


The Perfect Pebble

by turmeric



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Fantasy, Fluff, M/M, Penguins, Romance, Transformation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2018-06-02 13:52:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 61,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6568858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turmeric/pseuds/turmeric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Woohyun falls for a man that works at an aquarium, but…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 3:40pm

Everyday it was the same…all he could do was look through the glass, the flashing cameras, the fingers pointing and laughing…everyday it was the same.

But then 3:40 pm came.

3:40 pm was Woohyun’s favorite time of day because that was when he could see the man. The man never poked at the glass or pointed and laughed at him or shined bright shuttering lights in his eyes. No, the man barely even looked at him at all as Woohyun stood on a wet rock, staring out of the tank.

The man rarely ever looked into the tanks, and only focused on sweeping the candy wrappers, and other trash that visitors had discarded on the floor, despite the fact that there was a trash can at every corner.

Sometimes Woohyun could see him muttering complaints—at least he guessed they were complaints, though he couldn’t actually hear him. Today the man’s hair looked just as soft as always, and his bangs kept getting in his eyes as he swept crumbs into a paddle.  
Woohyun couldn’t even remember when he had hair like that since he was only a small child when he was cursed to be in his current form.

He held out his black flipper like feather to the glass, however the man didn’t notice.

He never did.

Woohyun still watched him. He liked watching the man. It made him feel like he had some kind of connection to the human world again—even though it was only one-sided.  
The man always seemed very serious, doing his work, and Woohyun always thought the man’s face when he was concentrating was the coolest. He thought everything about the man was cool and attractive. Even when he sometimes would trip on his own broom or when he smiled sheepishly and bowed to visitors.

Woohyun liked that the man always bowed so politely to everyone.

Woohyun liked when the man smiled the most.

Woohyun just liked everything about the man.

He was pretty sure the man was perfect. Sometimes he wanted so much for the man to notice him that he would act out, startling the other penguins in the tank. He would squawk when the man came by or smack his flipper-like feathers against the glass. But all that ever got him was entertained spectators who thought he was putting on a show and proceeded to get out their flashing devices and point and laugh like he was a joke.

He wanted to cry out that he wasn’t a joke. He didn’t want them to laugh at him or point at him and think he was nothing more than an object of amusement.

He just wanted to be human again.

-

One day he heard the staff who fed him and the other penguins discussing about a new penguin that was going to be joining them. It didn’t concern Woohyun much. He never interacted much with the other penguins since he never even thought of himself as a penguin. Though he looked like that on the outside, he thoroughly believed he was still human in his soul and one day he would be able to go back to the human world.

That afternoon, he was introduced to the new penguin—apparently the staff had been observing how antisocial he had been and were trying to set him up with a mate.

But to his surprise the moment he met the new penguin he could tell she was different.

“You’re...” He stood in front of her. She was only a little shorter than him, with the same sleek black back coat, milky white belly, and pale yellow chest. “Human?”

“Ah I didn’t think there were others like me.” The female penguin remarked, but she didn’t seem that surprised. “I’m Eunhye.”

“Eunhye-sshi…” Woohyun was starting to find some hope. There was another like him. He wasn’t alone. Maybe, just maybe they could find a way to be human together. “How did you turn? I…I was cursed when I was just a small child. I don’t know how to turn back, but maybe we can—.”

“I have no plans to be human again.” Eunhye replied, calmly.

Woohyun’s heart sank, as he was thrust back into loneliness again. “Oh…”

“In fact, I wanted to be this way.” Eunhye explained. She gestured Woohyun over to a space between the wet rocks so they weren’t in clear view of any spectators, though it was night time and everyone had left except for the nighttime staff who came around once in a while. She pulled out a small vial with her beak and put it down in front of Woohyun’s feet. “I went to a swamp witch and she gave me a potion to turn into a penguin. This is the antidote,” She pecked at the vial. “If I want to be human again.”

“Swamp witch?” Woohyun gasped. “W-Where is this swamp witch? How can I find her—?”

“No need.” Eunhye interrupted and gestured to the vial. “Take it.”

Woohyun stared at her for a moment, unsure if she was being serious. “Are…are you kidding me? How can I—?”

“I told you. I wanted to be this way.” Eunhye explained. “I don’t want to be human.”

“Yeah but…why would you want to be a penguin? Like there’s literally nothing good about being like this!” Woohyun held out his flipper. “We look stupid when we walk and everyone laughs at us!”

“Yeah but…this way, I’m taken care of. People pay attention to me. I’m loved.” Eunhye explained. “I’d never want to go back.”

“But…how is this love? They don’t really…all they do is laugh. They don’t really care…”

“I don’t need anything more than this.” Eunhye assured him. “Take the vial. Become human again. Attain the love that you can’t receive here.”

-

“Yeah, did you hear?” 22-year-old Sunggyu’s friend and fellow coworker Dongwoo grinned. The two were on duty at the aquarium’s gift store for the morning. “One of the penguins went missing last night. No one knows what happened to it….just disappeared.”

Sunggyu hummed in thought as he restocked some stuffed penguins on the shelf.

“Maybe it swam back to the north pole…ah or was it the south pole?” He muttered, as he wandered into the back to grab some more souvenir t-shirts. They were all in a large crate, so he had to dig into it to find the sizes he needed to restock. But then suddenly an icy cold hand reached out from the pile like a zombie arising from a grave.

(Sunggyu would later deny how loud he screamed.)

And then a head was popping out from underneath the mass of t-shirts—a head of messy black hair, a young man, looking about his age (probably younger) with a perfectly pointy nose and slightly drooping eyes.

“What the hell are you?!” Sunggyu yelled. It was a wonder Dongwoo hadn’t heard him, from the front of the store, but it was probably because of his headphones blasting music so loud that it drowned out any other sound.

“…W-Woohyun.” The man was shivering and appeared to be completely nude, though Sunggyu could only see from his belly button up. “I-I’m a Woohyun.” He mumbled, since he wasn’t quite sure if the transformation to human was completely successful with the way Sunggyu was questioning him. But then he realized it was the man. He never would’ve imagined that he would run into the man so soon after becoming human again.

“What the hell is a Woohyun and what’re you doing sleeping butt naked in the merchandise?!” Sunggyu yelled. “I’m calling the cops—!”

Woohyun suddenly clutched onto his arm, stopping him. But then he gasped, letting go almost immediately and stared at his own hand. He had fingers and fingernails and human skin again.

“I…I can grab things now?” He breathed, in disbelief. He looked at Sunggyu, filled with determination, as if he were entering foreign territory. He reached out cautiously, fingers trembling slightly as he brushed Sunggyu’s bangs slightly out of his eyes.

Sunggyu instantly smacked his hand away, however. “Don’t touch me you weirdo.” He hissed. “You just wait right here, so I can call the cops…” His words trailed off when he noticed Woohyun’s eyes watering and a single tear trickling down his cheek. “W-Why are you crying?” He panicked. “What happened?”

“I…” Woohyun hesitantly put his fingers to his cheek, feeling tears there. “I…am really human now—?” Suddenly he sneezed, interrupting his tearful, heartwarming realization. He shivered some more, and sniffled.

“This is what you get for being an exhibitionist.” Sunggyu huffed, and hastily unwrapped a t-shirt from a clear plastic packet. “Put this on.” He shoved it to Woohyun’s chest.

Woohyun stared at the t-shirt then at Sunggyu again. “Uh…how?”

“What do you mean how? It’s a damn t-shirt just—.”

Woohyun suddenly held out his arms like a child waiting to be dressed would.

“I-I’m not doing it for you! Do it yourself!” Sunggyu threw the t-shirt at Woohyun’s face.

Woohyun clutched onto the t-shirt, studying it for a moment. It had four holes he observed so he assumed each of those holes had to be filled by a body part. But the problem was he didn’t know which one went in each hole.

“Please…” He sent Sunggyu a pitiful expression. “Can you help me fill my holes?”

Sunggyu almost choked on his own spit. “That’s it! I’m calling the cops on you, pervert!”

“W-Wait, don’t leave!” Woohyun whined. “I don’t know which hole to put it in!” He clutched onto Sunggyu’s shirt sleeve, somehow getting dragged out of the t-shirt filled crate and onto the ground, face-first.

“What the—you’re seriously not wearing pants?!” Sunggyu really wished he didn’t stare for such a long time at Woohyun’s body—his small back down to his slightly curved butt to his rather toned thighs. He coughed and grabbed for a pair of swim trunks with the aquarium’s mascot—Yunjae the dolphin, printed on them in a pattern format.

He figured Woohyun was going to make another fuss about putting on the shorts so he decided to save time and just do it himself. He flipped Woohyun over onto his back, and Woohyun didn’t know why but he was suddenly feeling embarrassed, and he guessed this was a human feeling—being exposed like this. He unconsciously folded his hands over his crotch, and Sunggyu noticed, meeting his gaze.

“So you do have a sense of shame…” He muttered, as he grabbed Woohyun’s calf, pulling the blue trunks up his leg.

“I can…do it myself.” Woohyun murmured, watching him carefully. “Just…show me which holes I should fill—.”

“Stop talking about filling holes, pervert.” Sunggyu groaned, and grabbed Woohyun’s other leg, successfully pulling the shorts up to his knees. “I’m sure you can do the rest yourself?”

Woohyun nodded, and waited for Sunggyu to look away before hastily pulling the shorts to his hips like how he had seen humans wearing them before. Before he could even try to stand up, Sunggyu threw a white t-shirt with the aquarium’s logo on the back at him.

“Now put that on.”

“Um…” Woohyun stared at the shirt for a moment, turning it over in his hands. He started putting his arm into one of the holes, only to realize it was the neck hole.

Sunggyu grumbled something along the lines of, “Seriously you can’t even put on a damn t-shirt…” He knelt down beside Woohyun and grabbed the t-shirt from him. “Hold out your arms.” But Woohyun suddenly grabbed the shirt back.

“No I can do it.” He declared with zeal as he once again attempted to stick his arm through the neck hole.

“You’re doing it wrong stupid.”

“I’m not!” Woohyun defended. “I know—!”

“No you don’t!” Sunggyu argued and attempted to pull the shirt away from him. “You don’t know which one is the right one! Just let me do it damn it!”

Dongwoo wondered what was taking Sunggyu so long and decided to check on him. But as he pulled off his headphones and wandered towards the back, he could hear yelling.

“No! I can—.”

“I know which holes to fill so just let me do it you pervert!”

He opened the door to see Woohyun lying on his stomach, holding the shirt as far above his head as he could manage with Sunggyu right on top of him, attempting to pull the shirt out of his grasp.

“Uh hyung…” Dongwoo grinned, sheepishly. “I don’t think the boss allowed dating in the backroom.”

Sunggyu shot him a death glare. “What part of this looks like a date to you?”

“Well to be honest with you…it looks like what happens after the date.” Dongwoo explained in a rather nonchalant manner. “Well assuming the date goes well and all—.”

Sunggyu groaned in disbelief and pushed himself off Woohyun, dusting off the invisible dirt from his pants. Woohyun watched them converse for a moment—which was basically Sunggyu explaining to Dongwoo that Woohyun was some crazy pervert and that they should call the cops to come for him. But then Woohyun suddenly realized something. He gasped, startling the two men as he scrambled to his feet. However as soon as he stood up, he began waddling to the door, before realizing his stride length was longer than in his penguin form.

“Ah! I can actually run now!” Woohyun marveled at his own legs, gripping at his thighs and in general feeling up his own legs long enough to make Sunggyu incredibly uncomfortable.

“I told you! He’s a total pervert! Now he’s touching himself.” Sunggyu told Dongwoo in a rather whiny tone and gestured to Woohyun, who was in the midst of affectionately rubbing his rather hairy calf.

“I had no idea humans could have fur.” Woohyun hummed as he stroked his leg hair thoughtfully.

“Its disgusting!” Sunggyu exclaimed in horror, rudely pointing to Woohyun. “Look at it Dongwoo! Its totally gross!”

Dongwoo chuckled. “Hyung, don’t call him an ‘it.’ He’s a person…”

“That’s right!” Woohyun turned to Dongwoo with wide eyes and nodded enthusiastically. “I…I’m a person!” He proceeded to make a rather cute whimper of happiness and nodded some more to himself, pumping his fists like a child.

Sunggyu elbowed Dongwoo, nervously. “Are you sure? Because I’m really not…”

-

Unfortunately for Sunggyu, they did not call the cops and Dongwoo even let Woohyun come with them on their lunch break—a suggestion that Sunggyu voted against but was somehow outnumbered (he was still trying to work out the numbers on that.)

They sat down to eat lunch at the aquarium café. Dongwoo ordered them some sort of seafood pizza (another thing Sunggyu voted against but was once again outnumbered).

Woohyun was not sure exactly how to deal with his chair so he proceeded to stand on it, successfully garnering stares from others in the café and embarrassing the hell out of Sunggyu.

Dongwoo laughed, thinking that Woohyun was really interesting.

“What’re you doing you idiot?” Sunggyu hissed. “Sit down!”

Woohyun looked down at Sunggyu and Dongwoo and noticed they were much lower than he was. “Ah…” Then he chuckled awkwardly. “I guess I’m too tall to stand now.”

Sunggyu groaned, as he let his face fall into his hands. “Now he thinks he’s tall…wow he really is delusional…”

Woohyun hopped off the chair and almost stumbled forward, but managed to keep his footing. He looked around, attempting to mimic how others were sitting in their chairs. He suddenly felt his heart beating wildly against his chest and his face going warm. He realized people were staring at him—no they were laughing at him.

“No…” Woohyun thought in a panic. He had thought he had escaped that way of living. He thought being a human meant he wouldn’t be treated as a joke anymore. But they were laughing—they were all laughing at him. He worriedly stared at his hands to check in case they had turned back into fins. Instead all he saw were stubby fingers. They were ugly, Woohyun thought.

This wasn’t any different than being a penguin. He still looked stupid—people still laughed at him. What was good about this? He might as well have just lived as a damn flightless bird for the rest of his life—at least that way his life wouldn’t be as painstakingly long.

“Stop…” He murmured, eyes darting to and fro—wide and horrified. “D-Don’t laugh…” He looked down, his bangs falling heavy and dark over his eyes.

Dongwoo stared at him worriedly. “…Woohyun-sshi—.”

Suddenly Woohyun darted out of the restaurant without another word.

-

Woohyun ended up at the beach which really wasn’t too far from the aquarium. He climbed up some large rocks, and watched the waves. He didn’t like human feet, they were weak and he had already garnered many scrapes and cuts from walking around barefoot. He sat cross legged and let his gaze wander over the ocean.

What was really that much better about being human, he started to wonder.

“Dongwoo…yeah, I found him…” Woohyun turned around to see Sunggyu walking up to him, talking on the phone. “He’s fine, relax…ok I’ll talk to you later.”

He hung up as he approached Woohyun with a rather annoyed look.

“What’s wrong with you?” He sighed, though instead of aggression in his voice, Woohyun heard something like relief. Sunggyu did a quick scan to see if there was anything physically wrong with Woohyun. Then he noticed the bottoms of Woohyun’s feet had scrapes and cuts on them.

“Yah…you’re bleeding.” Sunggyu grabbed his shoulder. “Are you ok? Why are you so dumb? Don’t you have shoes?” He immediately realized the pointlessness of his question since he had first met Woohyun when he was completely naked.

Woohyun watched Sunggyu pace in a small circle for a moment, seemingly contemplating something. After a moment of thought, Sunggyu turned to him with a serious gaze. “Just…wait here, ok?” He turned and walked off, but then five steps in, turned around again and pointed at Woohyun. “Right there, ok? Don’t you dare move!”

Woohyun watched the other man scurry off before focusing his gaze on the ocean again. He thought back to his habitat in the aquarium, and had this sudden urge to go back. There was this one rock he always used to hide under when he wanted to be alone and away from the people poking the glass.

He never thought he would miss being a penguin.

Suddenly he felt some water droplets on the back of his hand and looked up to see if it was raining. But it wasn’t and there was now water coming out of his eyes just like earlier when he was in the t-shirt bin.

He touched the moisture on his cheek and attempted to blink but everything just became blurry and his chest ached. He didn’t understand what the hell was going on, and frankly it scared him. Was this some kind of human medical condition? Was he dying? Was human life really this fragile and empty?

He shakily got to his feet and attempted to rub his eyes with his bawled up fists, but more tears kept pouring out and he was sniffling and hiccupping now.

“I hate this…” He thought. “I’m scared…I…I want to go back…”

-

Sunggyu returned with two bags of clothes and some flip-flops from the nearby souvenir shop.

“I didn’t know which color you like best so I just got both…” Sunggyu paused when he realized Woohyun wasn’t waiting where he had left him. He looked around for a moment. “Yah!” He called out, but the beach was practically empty, and all that was left on the rock Woohyun was sitting on was a single dark grey and black feather.

 


	2. To be human

After wading through a lake, with the water level up to his waist for what felt like hours, Woohyun realized he couldn’t swim as well as a human—or well not much at all. It had gotten dark, and had been for a long time, with only the moonlight serving as a guiding light, glimmering against the water’s surface.

Woohyun squinted in the darkness when he spotted piles of aquatic plants—mostly dead, melded together in a huge conglomerate with crusted, algae ridden rocks and garbage.

Between the two mass piles looked to be a makeshift dead plant curtain of sorts. Woohyun waded closer, and cautiously pushed the dead foliage aside to see candles in small holders, floating on the surface of the water in a circle formation. Between the circle was a small raft with an old, plump and petite lady sitting on top of it. She had on some sort of blue kaftan that trailed off into the water around her. Her grey hair was in a bun and she had a tiny book in her hands and proceeded to shuffle through it while chewing something.

“Um…excuse me?” Woohyun cleared his throat. “Are you the swamp witch?”

“Ah,” The woman looked up, her narrow eyes glittering mysteriously in the moonlight. “You’re the one with the penguin curse, isn’t it?”

Woohyun blinked curiously, as he waded closer. “How…how did you know?”

“And you’re here for…what?” The witch ignored his question. “Already giving up on being human? Realized there was more to it and couldn’t handle it?”

Woohyun frowned. “That…that’s not—well…maybe.”

“Well too bad.” The witch tucked her tiny booklet underneath her leg and gestured Woohyun forward. “Because right now, you are neither.”

“W…What?” Woohyun was not only concerned about the witch’s words but the strange, rather long and thick red stick she was pulling out of the water. “W-What’s that?”

“Come closer.” She snapped and prodded him with the strange stick. It was warm, and it made Woohyun whimper uncomfortably.

“I…I don’t want to.” He mumbled.

But the witch didn’t listen and formed a shape in the air with the stick which soon glittered and vanished. Woohyun stared at her worriedly, when he felt a slight burning sensation on his leg.

“W-What’s that?” He panicked and splashed around.

“The spell you were given…in the vial,” The witch explained, the epitome of calm, despite Woohyun’s frenzied state. “Its only temporary. When it wears off, you will disappear.”

“D-Disappear?” Woohyun gasped. “But…won’t I just turn back into a penguin?”

“Well, its not that simple.” The witch sighed and tossed the stick somewhere behind her, garnering a loud splash in the distance. “You see, you were originally human, and a curse was put on you that turned you into a penguin. But, you took another kind of potion that turned you back to human. And well, the spells don’t work that way. You can’t simply use one spell or potion to undo another. You’ll have to do more than that.”

“O…ok,” Woohyun touched his thigh under the water, where he felt a stinging pain. “What do I have to do?”

The witch chuckled, folding her hands in her lap. “I thought you didn’t want to be a human anymore?”

“Well, I don’t want to disappear either.” Woohyun argued.

“Ah, so you would rather be a human than disappear? I see, I see…” The witch smiled, emphasizing the wrinkles adorning her face.

Woohyun didn’t quite understand what the witch was getting at. Sure, for a few moments so far as a human, he _did_ want to disappear, but the thought of actually disappearing, without even getting a chance to properly live as a human sounded far more daunting to him.

“This is what you’ll have to do,” The witch began, as she pulled out her notebook from under her leg. “When you were a penguin, there was an event at the aquarium, where visitors could vote for their favorite penguin.”

“Wait…seriously?” Woohyun bit his lip. He suddenly felt very nervous. Did anyone vote for him? Did people actually _like_ him?

The witch flipped a page of her notebook. “You received fifty votes.”

Woohyun’s heart leapt out of his throat. “R-Really? Fifty?”

“Don’t get too excited, the most popular penguin received about 2,000 votes.” The witch told him, basically crushing Woohyun’s self esteem.”

“…Oh.” Woohyun laughed awkwardly.

“Anyways, since fifty people is probably too much, you will need five people to fall in love with you.”

Woohyun’s mouth hung ajar. “What…?”

“You’ll probably have about six months until the spell wears off.” The witch explained, and then noticed Woohyun’s confused expression. “Go ask for a calendar, then you’ll know how much time that is exactly. And when I mean fall in love, it’s really not that deep, just basically five people to genuinely like you as a person. Though the stronger the feelings the better. Is your thigh hurting?”

Woohyun blinked. “Um…kind of?”

“That’s the marking I gave you. It’ll serve as your chart, and tell you how far along you are. There are five markings there, and once you’ve attained one person’s love, one of the markings will disappear. Once they all disappear, you will officially be a human being forever…or well until you die. Any questions?”

Woohyun was kind of speechless. “Um, yeah is—?”

“Ok great, bye.”

-

Once Woohyun reached the shore of the lake, the sun was already rising. He looked up at the sky, tiredly and yawned. The Yunjae the dolphin shorts he had been wearing since the day before were heavy and wet and clung to his skin, as did the white t-shirt Sunggyu had given him (or rather forced him to wear.)

He sat down near the shore of the lake on the moist sandy dirt and lifted up his shorts to see the marking the witch had given him. It was a row of five small hollow hearts along his inner thigh.

“ _These markings…”_ Woohyun studied the little hearts and smiled. “ _Are kinda cute.”_

-

The sun was shining way too brightly as Sunggyu wiped crumbs off a table. Today he had a shift at the aquarium’s café and was on clean up duty and therefore was forced to clean the grime from the outside seating, which included crumbs, bird poop, and other mysterious substances he didn’t want to think about.

He pulled off the stupid blue cap with a blue fish topper that he was forced to wear as part of his uniform, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his forearm.

He looked off the pier towards the ocean and sighed. He didn’t want to, but he kept wondering what had happened to that weirdo from yesterday.

“ _He’s not…he couldn’t have fallen in the ocean and drowned…could he?”_ He shook his head. “ _No, who cares about that idiot…you wasted your time being nice for nothing you asshole.”_

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed before putting his cap back on and proceeded to continue hating his life. That is until a rather strong gust of wind wafted by and blew his cap off over the table. He frowned and looked up at the sky as if to show the wind his disappointment. As he reached over for his cap, his gaze absently fell on the lower level of the boardwalk, through the wooden barred balcony. It would’ve been a normal day with bunches of people Sunggyu didn’t care about walking by (and occasionally girls in bathing suits or short shorts that he would never admit to sparing a glance towards). But then he spotted one person in particular—one weirdo, rubbing sand out of his hair, wearing ‘Yunjae the dolphin’ printed shorts and an aquarium t-shirt and of course—no shoes.

Sunggyu had never moved so fast in his life. He practically climbed over the balcony as he took the stairs down to the second level of the boardwalk two at a time. He accidentally shoved a few people, to whom he gave hurried apologies. He wouldn’t let that kid get out of his sight again—not before giving him a piece of his mind.

-

Woohyun yawned as he rubbed more sand out of his hair. He guessed that’s what he got for sleeping at the lake shore until noon. Though it wasn’t like there was any place comfier for him to sleep. He sighed, tiredly. He never had to worry about things like sand getting in his hair before, or well hair at all, or sand either for that matter. But now he felt like he needed his hair to be neat and nice looking, though it wasn’t really cooperating, and he continuously had to sweep his bangs out of his eyes.

He didn’t even really know what “nice” hair looked like. He felt like he had way too much to learn and for a moment rethought the witch’s words about preferring to be human than to disappear.

“ _But…”_ He looked up at the bright blue sky. It was pretty and the sun was warm on his skin and it felt kind of nice. The wayward clouds floating in the sky looked comfy. “ _Being human…I don’t have to be trapped in that tank...I can see pretty things like this.”_

He reached out his hand, wondering if there was a person tall enough to reach the sky. He was used to being far too small as a penguin, though even as a human, he didn’t exactly feel tall. He looked at the people passing around him—at men taller than him. Then he noticed a woman walk by with high heel shoes. “ _Those…”_ He wondered. “ _If I—.”_

“You little bastard!”

Woohyun didn’t even get a chance to turn around to realize the shouts were directed at him before it was too late and Sunggyu was grabbing him into a headlock from behind.

“Don’t pull my head off!” Woohyun shrieked. “I need it to see things!”

People stopped to stare at the scene the two were causing so Sunggyu sent them friendly, apologetic smiles.

“Don’t worry about it, this is just my little brother being a brat as usual.” He gave polite bows to onlookers as he proceeded to drag Woohyun back to the aquarium café on the second floor.

“What do you want from me…?” Woohyun frowned as soon as they entered the empty café. “I don’t even have any fish—.”

“Where the hell did you go yesterday? Do you know how worried I was! I specifically told you to stay on that stupid rock! Hell your goddamn feet were bleeding! They must be even worse now…”

Woohyun stared at him for a moment. “You…were worried about me?”

“What.”

“You just said—.”

“I didn’t.” Sunggyu quickly responded in disbelief that he, himself would say such a thing.

Woohyun looked around the café in a daze, then at the fish on Sunggyu’s hat. “Not to change the subject but are you going to eat that?” He hadn’t eaten anything since the seafood pizza the day before and his stomach felt empty. He also wasn’t sure why his stomach kept grumbling, and if there might’ve possibly been something in there—something that wasn’t very happy.

-

Sunggyu was grateful the aquarium cafe wasn’t opening for another fifteen minutes so he could have some time to yell at Woohyun. Though, after giving Woohyun some fish sticks and sitting down with him and watching him eat them, he wasn’t in much of a mood to yell.

He noticed Woohyun had sand in his hair and the white t-shirt he had given Woohyun to wear was dirty and slightly faded.

“Were you playing in the sand or something?”

Woohyun nodded and took the cup of soda with the straw sticking out of it and stared at it.

“No, I slept near the lake shore in the sand.” He pulled at the straw with a frown. “What’s this thing? Where’s the drink?” He stared at it for a moment, as he recalled aquarium goers holding the same kinds of cups and how they used to suck on the weird hollow clear sticks inside them. He proceeded to do just that and a sugary explosion of bubbly soda was filling his mouth. He gasped in amazement and accidentally choked, the soda spilling out of the sides of his mouth.

Sunggyu made a face of disgust.

“What the hell is wrong with you…?” Sunggyu shook his head. He thought about Woohyun’s words—slept in the sand. “ _Wait…”_ Sunggyu put a hand to his mouth as a realization hit him. “ _Slept outside…not having any clothes…don’t tell me he’s homeless?”_

Sunggyu immediately felt a heap of guilt pile over his head for constantly berating Woohyun.

He suddenly grabbed Woohyun’s cup and pulled off the plastic lid and the straw.

“Here, drink it like this.”

Woohyun took a bite of another fish stick. “This looks like a finger but it tastes like a fish?”

Sunggyu ignored him and clutched onto his hand. “Listen…can you wait here for my shift to end? Then we can go to the store and buy some shoes for you, ok?”

Woohyun looked at their hands for a moment—Sunggyu’s hand was warm and something about it was comforting, but why was he looking at him like that? So…earnestly?

It gave Woohyun a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach and he had a sneaking suspicion it was the tiny growling creature that lived there.

“Um…ok.” He nodded. He didn’t know what shoes were or what a “shift ending” quite meant, but it wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go.

No, that wasn’t true.

He had to make five people love him so he wouldn’t disappear in six months. But where was he supposed to start?

 He thought back to his days in the aquarium and how he used to admire Sunggyu so much. However, seeing him in real life and interacting with him made him change his mind.

There was no way Sunggyu would ever like him, let alone _love_ him.

He had to think of someone else—someone nicer, preferably.

Though Sunggyu _did_ give him the sugary bubbly soda and the finger shaped fishes and those were pretty nice things. But he also grabbed him and yelled a lot. But he also gave him clothes and said he worried about him.

Woohyun watched Sunggyu serve customers with a smiling face that he didn’t recognize.

Woohyun didn’t quite know if he understood Sunggyu, but he didn’t seem like a bad person. At the very least, he felt he should tell him about being a penguin. Maybe Sunggyu would even help him. Besides it wasn’t as if the penguin situation was a secret or anything.

-

Woohyun fell asleep beside his plate of fish stick crumbs, waiting for Sunggyu’s shift to end. He only managed to wake up when he felt someone patting his head. He sat up straight and blinked sleepily. Sunggyu was standing there, and Woohyun could’ve sworn there was a hint of a smile on his face but it was gone before he was able to tell.

Sunggyu handed him an ice cream cone, “Here. Sorry I made you wait so long.”

Woohyun stared at the swirly concoction curiously. “Um…thank you?”

“Here.” Sunggyu took Woohyun’s hand and put the ice cream cone in it. “Eat it before it melts.”

Woohyun nodded, feeling very rushed. He couldn’t possibly let it melt, but he didn’t even know what _it_ was. He assumed it was food and decided to take a big bite out of it.

Woohyun had made his fair share of mistakes. Like that one time he hid some left over fish he caught under the snow for a week. But biting into vanilla ice cream was probably in his top three list of bad decisions.

He whimpered and clutched his mouth and his teeth felt like they were going to turn to ice and fall out. “W-Why…?” He looked up at Sunggyu with near teary eyes. “Why would you give me this?”

Sunggyu was biting his lip to suppress the rather loud laugh threatening to come out. He wasn’t quite sure why a grown man didn’t know how to eat ice cream, and he also wasn’t quite sure why it was kind of sort of endearing.

_“What the hell?”_ He told himself. “ _Why would that be endearing. It’s tragic. That’s what it is...”_

“You’re supposed to lick it.” He told Woohyun and then stuck out his tongue.

Woohyun stared at Sunggyu’s tongue, then at the now melting ice cream cone in his hands.

“Why?”

“You’ll like it.” Sunggyu grabbed a napkin and wiped melted ice cream off Woohyun’s hand that was still clutching the waffle cone. “Trust me.”

Woohyun didn’t know if he trusted Sunggyu yet, but Sunggyu seemed quite sure of himself and about this weird cold melting triangle thing, so Woohyun decided to give it a try.

-

“Can we get more of those ice creams?” Woohyun skipped to keep up with Sunggyu as they headed for the shoe store. It only took a few licks of ice cream for Woohyun to fall in love with the frozen dessert. And then Sunggyu told him he could eat the cone too. Woohyun was amazed at such a delicious self-serving concept. He had already finished two cones since they left the café.

“No, you’ll get a tummy ache.” Sunggyu sighed, hands in his pockets. “Wait until tomorrow.”

“We can eat more ice creams tomorrow?” Woohyun leaned into his shoulder, excitably.

“It’s just ice cream, not _ice creams_.” Sunggyu pulled open the glass door to the shoe store with the slightest hint of a smile. A smile that he quickly wiped off his face when he realized the shoe store clerk at the counter was greeting them.

-

Woohyun sat on one of the short benches at the end of a shelf of shoes as he watched Sunggyu find a pair for him.

Sunggyu had given him a pair of flip-flops to wear which were the ones he had bought for Woohyun the day before, but they ended up being too big.

“Sunggyu-sshi…” Woohyun folded his hands in his lap for a moment, before finally standing up and facing the other man. “Uh…can I tell you something?”

Sunggyu was busy scanning through the rows of shoes. “Sure.” He hummed, only half paying attention.

“I…the reason why I don’t know so many things like what ice creams and shoes are,” Woohyun awkwardly rubbed his forearm “It’s because I used to be a penguin.”

Sunggyu turned to him with a clueless smile, like he hadn’t heard Woohyun at all.

“I’m sorry what?”

“A penguin.” Woohyun reiterated. “I am a person, but when I was really little, I was cursed and turned into a penguin. But then I met this other penguin that gave me this potion that turned me back into a human, but then this swamp witch—.”

Sunggyu tuned out Woohyun as a realization sunk in.

“ _Oh god…”_ Sunggyu massaged his temples. “ _He’s not only homeless, he’s also delusional.”_

Sunggyu’s expression immediately turned to one of pity, as he gripped onto Woohyun’s shoulder. “ _He’s trying his best to live, even though he doesn’t even have shoes and is terribly confused.”_ Sunggyu wiped a non-existent tear from his eye. “ _What a trooper.”_

“Uh…are you ok?” Woohyun blinked. “Look maybe you don’t believe me but—.”

“Woohyun-ah,” Sunggyu suddenly said, gripping both Woohyun’s shoulders now, with a determined gaze. Woohyun was rather taken aback, because not only was it the first time Sunggyu had called him by name, but it was also the first time he had stared directly into his eyes. It was a bit unnerving for Woohyun, who suddenly felt this unexplainable warmth color his cheeks. “Hyung will take care of you, ok? You don’t have to worry about bad things anymore, ok?”

Sunggyu’s voice and eyes were much too gentle and warm and Woohyun was getting these strange heart palpations. Was he dying, he wondered because it kind of felt like he might be, or at least that he would internally explode, starting from his head since his face was so warm all of a sudden.

For a moment, it felt like it wouldn’t be so bad if he died right then, with Sunggyu’s affectionate gaze being the last thing he saw.

“A-Anyways,” Sunggyu cleared his throat. “Did you pick out some socks?” He gestured to a shelf beside Woohyun, that was stocked with various colors and styles of socks.

But Woohyun didn’t really want to look at the socks. He just wanted to look at Sunggyu, and he wanted Sunggyu to look at him again, like he just had a moment ago.

He felt a concerning throbbing in his chest and he wasn’t sure why.

“ _The human body is strange.”_ Woohyun thought, as he watched Sunggyu pick out a pair of socks for him.

“Here, try these on.” He handed a pair of white crew socks to Woohyun.

Woohyun pulled a white sock over his hand and smiled proudly at his accomplishment.

“Look I did it.” He grinned and grabbed another sock and proceeded to pull it over his other arm. “Hm…” He waved around his sock clad hands. “These are nice and all, but they’re kind of tight and I can’t grab things?” He proceeded to make grabby hand motions with his sock covered hands.

Sunggyu wasn’t quite sure if it was due to serving stupid tourists and aquarium visitors the whole day or heatstroke or some other strange phenomenon, but he had this unsettling urge to hug the weirdo sitting there with the socks on his hands.

“ _No_ ,” He told himself. “ _Just because he’s homeless and crazy and cute and you feel sorry for him doesn’t mean you can think he’s cute—wait_ _what_.”

“You know,” He cleared his throat. “You’re supposed to wear those on your feet.”

Woohyun met his gaze and frowned. “Really?” He seemed skeptical. “But...aren’t they too small? Hands are smaller than feet and the socks fit on my hands so doesn’t that mean...?”

“No, here let me show you,” Sunggyu knelt down in front of Woohyun and held out his hand, with the sock in the other. “Give me your foot.”

“Why?” Woohyun gasped and clutched onto his foot, protectively. “You already have two feet! Why do you need one of mine?”

Sunggyu ignored Woohyun and grabbed his ankle and pulled the sock onto his foot.

“You seriously don’t know what socks are?”

Woohyun’s cheeks turned slightly red in embarrassment. “I-I told you, I used to be a penguin so I never learned…” He noticed the look of disbelief Sunggyu was giving him and frowned. “You don’t believe me?”

Sunggyu grinned like the whole thing was a joke. “Do you really expect me to?”

Woohyun sighed. Sunggyu had a fair point, even from his perspective his story did sound kind of ridiculous.

“I’ll prove it to you…tonight!” Woohyun announced. “Come with me to the lake.”

“Lake?” Sunggyu asked. “What lake?”

Woohyun blinked dumbly. “Y-You know…the lake where the swamp witch lives.”

But then Sunggyu was giving him that pitiful look that adults usually give to small children and it kind of pissed Woohyun off.

“Its real! I’m telling the truth!”

“Ok,” Sunggyu chuckled and patted Woohyun’s knee. “We’ll go to the lake, ok?”

Woohyun hesitated, his eyes lingering on Sunggyu’s fingertips on his knee. Sunggyu’s hand was warm and soft and Woohyun was a bit confused at how nice Sunggyu was suddenly being.

“I thought…” Woohyun stared at his new socks and twiddled his thumbs. “I thought you hated me…”

“What?” Sunggyu tilted his head to try and see Woohyun’s face. “What’re you talking about?”

Woohyun met his gaze, and his eyes were somewhat watery and his cheeks were slightly pink.

“I…I thought you didn’t like me, but now…you’re being so nice to me.” Woohyun smiled softly and rubbed the back of his neck. “It…its weird but it feels…really nice?”

Sunggyu was kind of speechless for a moment.

“ _Oh my god,”_ Sunggyu’s lips parted slightly, as another realization came to him. “ _He’s not only homeless and delusional, he’s also gay.”_ Sunggyu shook his head sadly. “ _This poor kid must be suffering so much in this unforgiving society…”_

Woohyun wanted to ask why Sunggyu wasn’t saying anything, but then the shop door opened and in walked Dongwoo.

“Ah, so you guys really were here!” Dongwoo scurried over to them with a friendly smile.

Sunggyu turned to him without a greeting and shrugged. “Well I did say we were when I texted you like five minutes ago so…”

Dongwoo ignored Sunggyu’s sarcastic reply and slipped an arm around Woohyun’s waist in a half-hug. “Hey what happened yesterday? Are you ok? We were worried! You know Sunggyu hyung almost called the cops to report a missing person’s case!”

“No I didn’t!” Sunggyu hissed and picked a shoe from a nearby shoe box that he had chosen for Woohyun to try on.

“Ah!” Dongwoo pointed as Sunggyu was in the midst of putting the shoe on Woohyun’s foot to see if it fit. “Doesn’t this remind you of that one scene from Cinderella? You know where Prince Charming puts the glass slipper on Cinderella or something like that?” Sunggyu immediately shot him a death glare. “But never mind, because Sunggyu hyung would make a horrifying Prince Charming.”

“Yeah,” Sunggyu muttered under his breath. “ _I’m_ the issue with that scenario.”


	3. Dongwoo's house

Dongwoo and Woohyun walked side by side laughing about something stupid while holding shopping bags with clothes and shoes for Woohyun. Well Dongwoo was making a joke and laughing while trying to get Woohyun to understand the joke.

Sunggyu tiredly followed behind them, nursing his now near empty wallet. He still didn’t understand how he ended up paying for basically an entire new wardrobe for Woohyun.

Woohyun, a complete stranger, who was apparently homeless, delusional and gay.

“ _Oh god…”_ Sunggyu thought. “ _What if me buying him all this stuff will make him think I like him or something…”_ He studied the back of Woohyun’s head anxiously. “ _I mean it’s pretty clear he already has a thing for me…I can’t send him the wrong signals_!”

“So,” Dongwoo grinned. “If you want, you can stay over at my place tonight.”

“Ah…” Woohyun blinked. “Really?”

Sunggyu suddenly became alert to the conversation the two shorter men in front of him were having.

“Uh,” He cleared his throat. “Actually there’s no way that’s happening.”

Dongwoo and Woohyun stopped and turned around to see the older man’s disapproving look.

“Why not?” Dongwoo frowned then hooked his arm around Woohyun’s. “It’ll be fun. Like a sleepover!”

Woohyun didn’t know what a sleepover was but Dongwoo seemed really nice and they seemed to be hitting it off. He figured he might have a chance to win Dongwoo over, and even if not, he just liked being with Dongwoo. Dongwoo was fun and nice and easy going and even though he laughed a lot, Woohyun never felt like Dongwoo was laughing _at_ him, but with him instead.

He also didn’t yell, unlike Sunggyu.

“He’s staying with me.” Sunggyu suddenly said.

“…What?” Woohyun’s smile faded. “Why? When was that decided—?”

“Right now,” Sunggyu replied. “By me.”

Dongwoo and Woohyun gave him unenthused stares and Sunggyu was starting to feel guilty like he was breaking up a beautifully budding friendship and was basically spoiling everyone’s fun. Which…he kind of was.

But Woohyun staying over at Dongwoo’s would definitely not be any fun for him at all! Ok no, that wasn’t the point, Sunggyu convinced himself.

“You…you live with your family.” He attempted to reason. “It’ll be too crowded and then adding Woohyun there too…where will he even sleep?”

“With me.” Dongwoo replied innocently.

“He can’t!” Sunggyu practically yelled. Dongwoo and Woohyun were looking like a couple of confused puppies who had just gotten scolded by their owner and the guilt was smacking Sunggyu in the face repeatedly.

It wasn’t like Sunggyu could spill the beans about Woohyun’s state of mind or his sexuality to Dongwoo. But at the same time, imagining him sharing a bed with Dongwoo was not something he wanted to imagine. Especially with Dongwoo’s tendency to touch people…intimately, Woohyun might get the wrong idea.

Sunggyu didn’t want all this stress on his shoulders. He just wanted to go home and sleep and pretend he never met Woohyun. But it was too late for that, sadly.

“Look…” He sighed and rested a hand on Dongwoo’s shoulder. “Your house is crowded enough and Woohyun might not feel comfortable sharing a bed with you, you know?”

“Ah…” Dongwoo nodded slowly, then they both looked to Woohyun.

Woohyun suddenly felt like he was trapped between two hungry seals. Dongwoo’s expression was hopeful and eager, meanwhile Sunggyu’s was threatening and dark.

“Um…” Woohyun swallowed. “Maybe…I’ll just sleep at the lake shore—.”

“That’s it!” Sunggyu remembered about Woohyun asking him to come to the lake and something about a swamp witch or whatever. Sunggyu didn’t really care. But he could use that in his favor. “Didn’t you say you wanted to show me something at the lake tonight?” He began. “So it’d be better if you just stay at my place, because then we can just go there after, and we wouldn’t be bothering Dongwoo’s parents if you come in late.”

Woohyun wasn’t quite sure as to why Sunggyu was being so insistent that he stay with him. But all he knew was that Sunggyu was seriously getting in the way of his plans to get Dongwoo to like him.

“Can I come too?” Dongwoo asked and Woohyun immediately nodded that he could.

Sunggyu was beyond exasperated.

-

Woohyun had already explained to Dongwoo about his penguin past on the way to the lake so everyone was already caught up with the situation. A situation that Sunggyu did not believe in the slightest. And yet he found himself arriving at the shore of a crusty algae infested lake, with Dongwoo and Woohyun in tow. Woohyun started walking into the lake, before Sunggyu quickly grabbed his arm so Woohyun wouldn’t mess up the new sneakers that _he_ had payed for.

“What’re you doing?”

“We have to go through this way to get to the swamp witch.” Woohyun explained.

Sunggyu turned to Dongwoo with a look of disbelief. “Are we really doing this?”

Dongwoo shrugged with a grin. “Why not?”

Sunggyu sighed reluctantly. “Fine, but I’m _not_ getting in that.” He pointed to the lake before strolling across the sand to a nearby abandoned canoe. “We’ll take this.”

-

Woohyun, who was sitting in the front of the canoe, moved aside the seaweed curtain as Dongwoo rowed the boat under an overhanging branch. Sunggyu and Dongwoo’s eyes widened in confusion upon seeing the swamp witch sitting there with her tea candles surrounding her. Today she was wearing a blood red kaftan and her grey hair was in a loose bun.

As soon as she recognized Woohyun, she sighed heavily.

“Listen,” She shook her head, easily realizing she was about to deal with idiots. “When I told you to find people who like you for the markings to disappear…I meant do that on your own. Don’t bring them here!”

“What…” Sunggyu breathed, nudging Woohyun. “Is..she talking about?”

“I told you.” Woohyun sighed. “I used to be a penguin because of a curse and because of a spell I’m back to being human but…well I guess I didn’t tell you the other part.” He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

“Is this…” Sunggyu turned to the old woman in disbelief. “Is he for real?”

“Unfortunately yes.” The witch shrugged, half-heartedly, despite Sunggyu and Dongwoo’s speechless looks of shock and confusion.

Dongwoo tugged on Sunggyu’s sleeve. “Hyung…” He whispered. “To be honest I didn’t really believe this whole thing but…now…”

“No…” Sunggyu shook his head. “This…makes no sense.”

“Well really, what in life does make sense.” The witch responded, the epitome of cool and collected.

“Please, don’t get all philosophical on me.” Sunggyu groaned. “I’m serious.” He pointed to Woohyun. “How the hell do you expect us to believe this kid used to be a frickin’ flightless bird?”

The witch gave Sunggyu a dry look. “I’m sorry I think you’ve mistaken me for someone who cares about your opinion.”

Sunggyu had just met this “witch” and he already wanted to un-meet her. “But…how…”

“He just told you!” The witch heaved an annoyed sigh. “He was a stupid little human, then he was cursed by some shithead and turned into a penguin and has been living as one until he was given another spell and whoop now he’s back to being a crappy human. What’s not to get?”

Sunggyu and Dongwoo still looked like they didn’t believe her which, was a reasonable reaction on their parts, she admitted to herself.

“Listen, you two work at the aquarium isn’t it?”

Dongwoo and Sunggyu exchanged an anxious glance before nodding.

“How…how’d you know that—?”

“Well, if you recall, on the day this nub appeared,” The witch gestured to Woohyun. “One of the penguins had disappeared from the tank.”

Sunggyu thought about it, and thought about it some more. What the witch said about the penguin disappearing when Woohyun appeared was true, but that couldn’t mean…

He thought about Woohyun not knowing about shoes or ice cream, or really…anything.

But still, a person turning into a penguin and back into a human, or whatever the hell supposedly happened with Woohyun made no sense. It sounded like something out of some lame children’s book. Sunggyu wasn’t really sure what to believe.

Meanwhile Dongwoo had gotten into an interview of sorts, asking Woohyun many questions about what it was like to be a bird. Hard hitters such as: ‘Did you ever lay an egg?’ and ‘Has a seal ever tried to eat you?’

It was safe to say, Dongwoo was already on board. Unfortunately, Sunggyu was not a believer. Fortunately, Woohyun didn’t really care that much about what Sunggyu thought. His main focus was on getting Dongwoo to like him. Nice, friendly, fun, Dongwoo.

The sun had already set and the sky was darkening as the three boys left the sandy lake and walked along the sidewalk. There was a nice view of the ocean since they were so close and for a moment Woohyun closed his eyes to listen to the waves crashing, to inhale the cool salty air.

For a moment he finally felt free.

He almost wanted to run across the lumpy sand and dive into the ocean and just swim. Swim and swim and never stop swimming.

Though he realized as a human, he probably couldn’t do that.

Being human had limitations too, he thought to himself.

Suddenly he felt someone touch his arm, and he was surprised to see it was Sunggyu. He looked around for a bit, recovering from his daze, only to realize Dongwoo had disappeared. Woohyun suddenly became worried that Sunggyu may have thrown him into the ocean or something and shot the other man a suspicious stare.

“Are you ok?” Sunggyu asked.

It wasn’t exactly what Woohyun was expecting Sunggyu to say. But who cares about that. Who cares about Sunggyu anyways. He was just trying to ruin everything and didn’t believe Woohyun anyways. These were the thoughts Woohyun entertained in his head.

“Fine.” He shrugged. “Where’s Dongwoo?”

Sunggyu looked somewhat disappointed by Woohyun’s answer, but Woohyun convinced himself it didn’t matter.

“Look, I don’t know about all this penguins and magic stuff or whatever…” Sunggyu spoke in a quieter, less authoritative tone than what Woohyun was used to hearing. “But I really think it’d be better if you stayed at my place.”

Woohyun rubbed his head tiredly. “Why do you want me to stay with you so badly Sunggyu-sshi? You must really like me…”

Sunggyu gasped a bit too loudly. All his fears of sending Woohyun the wrong message were coming true. But no, that wasn’t the main issue here. The main issue was that Dongwoo’s house was too full and Dongwoo was most definitely going to manhandle Woohyun in his sleep. And that was not good. No, not good at all.

Sunggyu wished he wasn’t so damn caring (nosy) about other people’s lives and just..well let them live their lives. But how was he supposed to do that when people clearly didn’t know how to live their lives the right way?

There was only one way to get through to Woohyun.

“Yes.” He blurted out. “I like you.”

Woohyun stared at him and Sunggyu stared back until a cool sea breeze passed between them. All of a sudden Woohyun spread his leg out and pulled up his shorts leg, exposing his thigh in all its muscular glory.

Sunggyu gasped and looked away frantically. “ _Oh my god is he trying to seduce me! God damn it why must I be so irresistible?”_

He shamelessly spared a glance to see what looked like a tattoo on Woohyun’s inner thigh.

“You’re lying!” Woohyun frowned and poked one of the hollow heart tattoos on his thigh. “None of the markings disappeared, so that means you’re lying…”

Before Sunggyu could even muster a reply, they heard Dongwoo skipping towards them, announcing that he had bought take out for dinner.

-

Sunggyu looked like a mopey old dog as he parted ways with Dongwoo and Woohyun, who were joyfully skipping towards Dongwoo’s house. Dongwoo had offered to walk Sunggyu back to his place since it was oh so dangerous for a person who basically had no ability to defend themselves to walk alone late at night, but Sunggyu merely flipped him off and went on his way.

He made a mental note to himself that that was the last time he’d waste his time being nice to strange (and cute) penguin boys who emerged from t-shirt bins with no clothes on.

-

Dongwoo’s parents were very nice and welcoming and so were Dongwoo’s sisters and Dongwoo’s house was nice as well. Everything was just very very…nice.

Woohyun convinced himself to like it, but something inside felt a bit lonely. Dongwoo’s family was nice and so was Dongwoo, but it made him want to have his own family. He had no idea who his human parents were, or if they were even alive. He wondered if he had any siblings. The thought made him feel somewhat isolated—that there was an entire part of his life he had no idea about and had no way of finding out about.

After dinner, Dongwoo showed Woohyun to his bedroom. It was a bit cluttered, but it felt homey. There were two desks at one side, covered with all sorts of random things from license plates to jump ropes. Woohyun had no idea what half the stuff in Dongwoo’s room was, but he appreciated how colorful it was and how it seemed very much Dongwoo-like.

Dongwoo immediately turned on some music and started dancing near his bed. Woohyun watched him for a moment, in amusement.

“This is nice.”

“Its music.” Dongwoo hopped onto his bed and patted the spot beside him for Woohyun to sit down. “I’m sure you’ve heard it in the aquarium before right?”

“I have, but I never knew that’s what it’s called.” Woohyun grinned as he sat down beside Dongwoo.

“You love it right?” Dongwoo nudged him playfully. “Music is really amazing, you know? For me, I love dancing to it.”

“Dancing?” Woohyun blinked. “Ah, I know dancing…they used to make some of us try and do that so people would…laugh.” He suddenly regretted bringing up a bitter memory of being made a fool of and looked away dismally.

“I bet you were great.” Dongwoo smiled encouragingly, even though Woohyun wasn’t looking. “But…somehow that doesn’t sound right.” He sighed, causing Woohyun to turn and face him. “I mean…if you have to _make_ someone dance…then it’s not really like dancing at all? Dancing is like…its inside you, dancing is something you do because you _feel_ it, you know?”

Woohyun didn’t know—not really. But the way Dongwoo talked so passionately about dancing made him want to look at it in a different, more optimistic way.

“I don’t know if you’re up for it but…” Dongwoo crossed his legs, tapping his fingers on his knees to the rhythm of whatever hip hop song was playing from his stereo. “I work at this dance studio on the weekends, teaching, and in exchange I get to use the studio after all the classes are done at night. If you want, I can teach you a few things.”

Woohyun smiled at Dongwoo smiling at him. “That sounds great.”

“Great!” Dongwoo suddenly bounced up from the bed and moved towards one of his two cluttered desks and began shuffling through piles of trinkets. “Maybe if you come, Sunggyu hyung will actually show up.” He joked, but Woohyun instantly frowned.

“Why would _he_ come?”

“He wouldn’t.” Dongwoo turned to him with a grin, now holding some sort of squeaky toy that looked like it was for a dog. “He doesn’t like dancing. But if you’re there…”

“Well there’s a surprise. What does he actually _like_ , because it doesn’t seem to be a big list?” Woohyun muttered sarcastically.

Dongwoo laughed. “Hyung is…well he’s just like that. He likes a lot of things, he just shows it in funny ways. But let me tell you,” He sat back down beside Woohyun at the edge of the bed. “Once you’re on his radar, you’re there for good. He’ll take care of you and look out for you, even if you didn’t ask for it.”

Woohyun stared at the hardwood floor for a moment. “That..sounds kind of annoying.”

He was lying. It didn’t sound annoying at all for someone like him, though he imagined most people would find it rather annoying.

-

After Dongwoo helped Woohyun choose suitable pajamas from the outfits (Sunggyu had payed for) from the backpack (Sunggyu had also payed for), Dongwoo crawled into bed. Woohyun, however stood beside the bed.

“What’re you doing?” He asked.

“I’m going to sleep.” Dongwoo smiled, though he was clearly confused. “What’re you doing?”

“Me too.” Woohyun smiled back and remained standing where he was, by the nightstand.

“Um…” Dongwoo clutched onto Woohyun’s hand. “Woohyun…people sleep lying down.”

Woohyun turned to him, blinked once, twice. “Ah…” He watched Dongwoo lean over and turn off the lamp on the nightstand before crawling into bed beside him.

Dongwoo was asleep in mere minutes, but Woohyun lay awake in a daze.

“ _Ah…so humans sleep lying down_ …” He thought to himself, recalling how he had fallen asleep at the lake shore standing up but woke up the next morning lying down in the sand with a sore neck and back.

Suddenly he heard a faint grunting sound, but then it tapered away and it was silent again. Woohyun glanced at Dongwoo in the darkness from the corner of his eye. Dongwoo was lost in dreamland and it only made Woohyun more anxious.

Then there was another snort like grunt noise and it sounded like it was coming from somewhere outside Dongwoo’s room. Woohyun didn’t want to disturb Dongwoo’s sleep, but he was only getting more fearful as the noises continued every few seconds—sometimes they got louder and other times, faded into a soft groan like sound.

Either way, Woohyun was convinced there was some creature lurking outside Dongwoo’s door and it was out to get him—it was clearly threatening him with all those growling noises.

Woohyun could only come to one conclusion. He needed to escape.

It was difficult to find his way around Dongwoo’s bedroom in the dark and he ended up tripping and dropping something from one of Dongwoo’s desks. It didn’t help that the grunting continued and it wasn’t helping Woohyun think straight as fear took over the logical part of his brain.

He had dropped Dongwoo’s phone and it started vibrating and the light from the screen felt almost blinding to Woohyun’s eyes that had been adjusted to pitch blackness. Woohyun officially freaked out, until he realized he could read the words on Dongwoo’s phone.

**_‘Sunggyu hyung’_ **

Woohyun gasped and grabbed the device and poked and prodded it until he heard a voice coming out of it.

“Hey, look I know its late I was just checking in before—.”

“S-Sunggyu-sshi?” Woohyun’s voice was a shaky whisper as to not wake the rest of the house or alert the creature to his presence.

There was a pause.

“Woohyun…? Is that you?”

If Woohyun wasn’t freaking out enough with the creature lurking outside Dongwoo’s door, now Sunggyu was trapped in this tiny rectangular device.

“How did you get in there?” Woohyun whispered. “Sunggyu-sshi!” He hissed, as he tapped the device aggressively. “D-Don’t worry I’ll get you out!” He stammered, though his voice was trembling and hoarse.

“What? No, I’m at home. I’m fine!” Sunggyu sighed. “It’s a phone—a communication device. I’m ok.”

“Y-You are?” Woohyun’s voice cracked—his throat felt dry and he kept forgetting to breathe properly. Suddenly a rather loud grunt like noise came from outside Dongwoo’s room and Woohyun whimpered. “S-Sunggyu-sshi…th-there’s a creature and I…” He paused to swallow the lump in his throat. “I-I think its trying to eat me…!”

He couldn’t hear Sunggyu’s voice on the phone anymore and he kind of felt like curling in a ball and hiding from the world. But of course he couldn’t do that—well not in this house.

He just needed to get outside. He pushed himself to stand and maneuver his way to the door. He bit his lip nervously as he slid open the door and peered both ways—the coast was clear. He held in a deep breath and bolted for the front door, whimpering in fear as he heard the grunting, almost as if it were coming closer. He was too scared that the creature might be right behind him that he couldn’t even turn around and ran blindly out the front door. He dashed across the front lawn, the grass blades prickly and cold under his bare feet.

But then there were two blinding round lights coming straight for him—it must’ve been the creature! He backpedaled as fast as he could, but ended up slipping on the damp grass and falling backwards. He gasped, tears rushing down his cheeks as he crawled backwards, searching desperately for somewhere to hide.

This couldn’t be the end—it just couldn’t be. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to experience what it was like living as a human being yet. All he had done was live miserably as a penguin and now he was going to die miserably as a human.

He crashed into a bush and felt thorns cut into his arm and it hurt like hell. Everything hurt, and all he could do was cry.

He was supposed to be strong, being human was supposed to make him feel strong and free and brave. But all he felt was scared and weak.

“Woohyun! Hey, are you ok?”

Woohyun cautiously removed his shaky hands from his eyes when he recognized the voice calling his name.

Sunggyu was running towards him and the two bright circular lights were gone. He slowly sat up straighter as Sunggyu knelt down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“What happened? What’re you doing out here?” Sunggyu’s hair was messy and he was wearing different clothes from earlier that day—sweatpants and an extremely baggy t-shirt.

But Woohyun didn’t really notice any of that, all he could see was Sunggyu was there—someone familiar—not a scary creature, _just_ Sunggyu.

He looked up at Sunggyu, his lower lip trembling as he tentatively clutched onto the folds of Sunggyu’s t-shirt and buried his face into his chest, whimpering in relief.

Sungggyu sighed and gently placed a hand on the back of Woohyun’s head as the younger man’s tears stained his t-shirt.


	4. Bath Time

Sunggyu convinced Woohyun that his car was in fact not a scary creature that was trying to eat him and was merely a mode of transportation. However, Woohyun would still not let go of Sunggyu’s arm even as they got into the car.

“Um…” Sunggyu sighed. “Just wait here ok? I’ll go back inside and grab your backpack—.”

“W-Why?” Woohyun frowned. “You don’t have to…”

“What do you mean I don’t have to? It’s your stuff.” Sunggyu moved to open his door, but Woohyun clutched tighter to his arm. Sunggyu turned to him, somewhat confused, but Woohyun kept his head down.

“Please…don’t.” He murmured.

Sunggyu felt sort of bad (or just weak for) Woohyun’s obviously sensitive and pitiful condition and decided to adhere to the former penguin’s wishes.

“Ok, we’ll go.” Sunggyu told him reassuringly. “To my house, ok?”

“But…” Woohyun raised his head, his eyes wrought with worry. “What about Dongwoo? Shouldn’t we tell him—?”

“Don’t worry, I got it covered.” Sunggyu assured him and started his car. Woohyun gasped as soon as he heard the engine turn on and saw the dashboard light up.

“What’s happening?!” He panicked and looked every which way for somewhere to escape. “What’s that noise?!”

“Its ok.” Sunggyu grabbed Woohyun’s arm and held his hand. “I just turned the car on. That’s the sound it makes…”

“…Oh.” Woohyun stopped his frazzled freak out, but still seemed somewhat tense and gave the radio a hardened stare as Sunggyu maneuvered the car out of Dongwoo’s neighborhood. Woohyun noticed the world rushing past them as he stared out the window. He gazed up at the indigo star cluttered sky and it almost looked like the moon and stars were running away from them.

“S-Sunggyu-sshi…” Woohyun tapped Sunggyu’s arm whilst still watching the view out the window. “Why is everything outside moving so fast?”

“Hm?” Sunggyu yawned as he turned at an intersection. “Its not, we’re the ones who’re moving. This car’s taking us to my place.”

“Ah…” Woohyun blinked as he pressed a hand to the cool glass of the window. It felt refreshing in contrast to the lingering sweat dampening his back from running for his life earlier.

“If you want I can open the window.” Sunggyu suggested. Woohyun removed his hand and turned to him as Sunggyu clicked a button on the side of the car near the door handle. Woohyun whipped his head so fast towards the window as a crisp gust of wind greeted his warm face.

Woohyun had never felt such a thrilling feeling as sticking his head out a car window.

It was somewhat scary because he felt like he would fall out, but at the same time he felt safe with his seat belt (that Sunggyu had to help him with), so it was more exciting than anything else.

-

“I don’t have an extra bed, so you’ll have to sleep on the couch.” Sunggyu explained as he placed a blanket down on his small, creaky sofa. “The bathroom’s right down the hall—wait you know what a bathroom is right? Oh god don’t tell me you don’t know how to use the bathroom?”

Woohyun blinked innocently. “What’s a bathroom?”

Sunggyu was about to jump off a metaphorical (or maybe a real) cliff, when Woohyun chuckled.

“I’m joking! I know what it is and Dongwoo showed me how to use it.”

Sunggyu decided he didn’t really want to think or know anything about that and sleepily nodded.

“Ok, uh…sleep well.” He mumbled and began to trudge away when Woohyun whimpered softly.

“W-Wait…” Woohyun frowned. “Where’re you going?’

“…To sleep?” Sunggyu stared at him like he was stupid.

“But…” Woohyun edged closer to him, in a roundabout sort of way. “You’re going to be so far away…”

Sunggyu realized Woohyun was probably still scared because of what happened with the “creature” at Dongwoo’s house, which he was pretty sure was Dongwoo’s father snoring.

“I’ll just be in the next room, don’t worry.” Sunggyu tried to say, but Woohyun didn’t look convinced in the least. “Look,” Sunggyu sighed. “There’s nothing else I can do…my bed is in my room and the couch is out here—.”

“Dongwoo let me sleep in his bed with him…” Woohyun mumbled.

“I’m not Dongwoo.” Sunggyu smiled thinly. “Sleep out here on the couch or sleep on the floor, or whatever…I don’t care I’m going to bed.” And with a slight huff, Sunggyu left for the comfort of his bed and pillow.

-

Not even ten minutes after Sunggyu had turned off the light and settled into bed, he felt the mattress dip beside him and someone (Woohyun) sigh softly _right_ next to him. In some ways, Sunggyu was surprised Wooyun didn’t just go ahead and cuddle up to him. But he didn’t touch Sunggyu at all, and simply lay down close enough so that Sunggyu could feel his body heat.

Sunggyu groaned and sat up as he reached to turn on the lamp on his nightstand.

“Listen,” He turned to Woohyun who looked surprised that he was found out and reached to hug the pillow he was resting his head on. “I told you couch or floor. When did I say you can come into my bed? _When_?”

“But…” Woohyun shamelessly continued lying down and smiled sheepishly at Sunggyu. “You said I can do whatever I want and that you don’t care?”

Sunggyu was really starting to regret that whole getting involved in other people’s business thing, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

“I meant anything _besides_ my bed like that wasn’t even one of the options!” Sunggyu exclaimed in an exasperated state. It was significantly past midnight and he just wanted some goddamn sleep.

Woohyun suddenly looked very sullen, and sat up slowly. “I…I’m sorry. I thought…humans sleep next to each other as well…”

 _“As well? What does he mean by ‘as well’”_ Sunggyu wondered and then he suddenly remembered one night at the aquarium when he was doing a graveyard shift and was walking by the penguin’s habitat. Some were standing near each other with their beaks tucked under their wings, while others were merely floating around in the water. Sunggyu remembered it pretty clearly because he was alone that night, and it was the funniest thing he’d seen and wanted to take a picture on his phone to show Dongwoo, but had forgotten his phone in the bathroom.

He guessed that maybe Woohyun was used to being in the habitat with the other penguins, and so he wasn’t used to sleeping alone.

“ _But wait…”_ He thought to himself. “ _Am I really believing this whole penguin thing?”_

He watched Woohyun for a moment, as the other man awkwardly focused on adjusting and readjusting the folds in his t-shirt that was slightly loose for him.

“I get it…I’ll go sleep in the other room.” Woohyun mumbled, but didn’t make any movement that signified he would leave.

“So?”

“Yes?” Woohyun looked up slightly startled.

Sunggyu couldn’t help the corner of his lip curving slightly upwards. “I thought you said you were leaving?”

“Ah…” Woohyun smiled sheepishly again and just stared at Sunggyu. It was way too obvious how he was hanging on Sunggyu’s every word, waiting for him to say he could stay.

It was late, Sunggyu reasoned, that was the only reason he was finding Woohyun to be maybe kind of really adorable.

“Fine,” He patted Woohyun’s hand. “Stay…only for one night ok?”

Woohyun breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “Just one night and then…another night—.”

“No! Just one—.”

“Ok.” Woohyun winked. “Whatever you say, Sunggyu-sshi.”

Sunggyu stared in disbelief as Woohyun settled back into bed and pulled the covers under his chin, closing his eyes peacefully.

“ _Since when do penguins know how to wink…?”_

-

Sunggyu stared at Woohyun and Woohyun stared back at him…for two seconds before getting embarrassed at the awkwardness of their staring contest and burst into an uncomfortable fit of giggles.

“Is something wrong Sunggyu-sshi?” He asked while covered his mouth and smiling (mostly from shyness, because Sunggyu’s glare was rather stifling.)

The next morning had arrived and there was a major issue at hand, Sunggyu realized as he sat on the bed, cross legged, beside Woohyun.

“You need a bath.” He finally announced.

Woohyun stared at him, clueless. “…A what?”

“You need to get clean. Humans take showers or baths every day to clean their bodies.” Sunggyu explained, and wondered if he really was taking the penguin thing seriously and almost wanted to make sure he was still sane. Woohyun was giving him this concerned look and Sunggyu felt like he needed to reassure him somehow. “Its not difficult.” He told him. “All you have to do is go in the shower, I’ll turn the water on for you and you just have to scrub soap all over your body and wash your hair.”

“…Ok.” Woohyun nodded apprehensively. “I...I think I can do that.”

“I should hope so.” Sunggyu muttered under his breath.

After showing Woohyun which soap and shampoo to use, he turned on the shower faucet and left him to his own devices. However not even a minute after exiting the bathroom, he heard a loud crashing sound and rushed back in.

The soap, lotion and shampoo bottles were on the floor, along with other bathroom necessities such as toothpaste, a loofa, tile cleaner, etc.

Sunggyu took in the scene for a moment and Woohyun’s awkward yet somehow endearing “oops” smile.

“You know what, I’m just gonna do it. This is gonna take too long and I need to shower too.” Sunggyu muttered as he proceeded to pick up all the fallen items and toss them hastily onto the cabinet, some of the bottles falling into the sink.

“D-Do what?” Woohyun rubbed the back of his head as he watched Sunggyu practically throw stuff into the sink.

“Take off your clothes and get in the tub.” Sunggyu gestured towards the tub with a flick of his chin as he proceeded to rip the plastic off a brand new toothbrush (that he had gotten free from the dentist.)

“Why?” Woohyun gasped and covered his chest with his arms in an x formation.

“Please, you were butt naked the first time we met, I’ve seen it all already anyways.” Sunggyu sighed. “Hurry up, I don’t have time I have to get to work soon.”

Woohyun nodded nervously and tugged at his t-shirt for a moment. He had only worn clothes for a short period of time, but he already felt like he couldn’t be in front of others without them on anymore. “Uh...” Woohyun pursed his lips, as Sunggyu impatiently stared at him. “Can you…uh look away or something then?”

“Oh…uh right.” Sunggyu suddenly realized what he was doing and cleared his throat as he awkwardly turned around. He grabbed a towel from the cupboard and threw it behind him for Woohyun. “Use that…to like cover yourself or whatever…if you want.” He fished the new toothbrush he had left on the counter and squeezed some toothpaste onto it. 

Meanwhile Woohyun had managed to wrap the towel around his body like a tube dress. The image was almost laughable for Sunggyu, but he realized this was not the time for that.

Oh heck, it was pretty darn hilarious (in a cute way).

“You know, you don’t have to cover your whole body like that?” Sunggyu chuckled. “I mean like…probably just your lower half?”

Woohyun self consciously folded his arms over his covered chest. “But…the top half is…w-weird.”

“Weird?” Sunggyu snorted. “Why would it be weird?” He started approaching Woohyun and Woohyun started backing up, but unfortunately the latter didn’t get very far when Sunggyu grabbed his arm. “How is it weird?” Sunggyu asked and rather bluntly yanked at Woohyun’s towel “dress.”

“D-Don’t...” Woohyun mumbled and turned away, clutching tightly to the towel, somewhat resembling a shy maiden on her wedding night.

Sunggyu let it go because really, he didn’t have time for any of this. “Here.” He handed Woohyun the toothbrush. “You clean your teeth with this.” He showed Woohyun the methods for brushing his teeth and Woohyun quickly got the hang of it and continued swishing the brush around in his mouth as Sunggyu got to work shampooing Woohyun’s hair.

Woohyun sat on the edge of the tub and made a small noise of contentment as Sunggyu massaged the shampoo into his chocolate brown hair. It felt nice and soothing and even though Sunggyu clearly didn’t seem to know what he was doing, Woohyun kind of liked the feeling of someone touching his head.

After Woohyun brushed his teeth, and got his hair washed, Sunggyu turned on the shower faucet, handed Woohyun a bar of soap told him to rub it all over his body and then rinse it off and then he’d be done.

Woohyun thought it was a weird thing to do to rub this small white stone like item all over himself, but Sunggyu didn’t give him much of a chance to question anything and speedily left after giving Woohyun instructions and telling him to hurry up.

After Woohyun’s bath was finished successfully, Sunggyu left him in his bedroom with some of his own clothes laid out on the bed for him to wear (since they had left Woohyun’s backpack of new clothes at Dongwoo’s house last night.)

While Sunggyu rushed back into the bathroom to take the quickest shower of his life, Woohyun worked on dressing himself in Sunggyu’s slightly loose white t-shirt and denim shorts.

Since he ran out of Dongwoo’s house bare foot, he had to borrow a pair of Sunggyu’s flip-flops since Sunggyu’s shoes were too big for him.

-

“Sunggyu-sshi…” Woohyun frowned. Sunggyu was driving them to his work place to which he was pretty sure he was going to be late. “I think there’s a creature…in my stomach.” He mumbled. “Because every time my stomach feels empty it grumbles and growls.”

A snort like sound escaped Sunggyu’s throat. “There’s no creature, that’s just your stomach.” He explained. When you’re hungry, that’s how your stomach lets you know…by growling.”

Woohyun nodded, attempting to process Sunggyu’s words. “But then…” They stopped at a red light as he turned to Sunggyu with somewhat suspicious eyes. “How...does it know?”

Sunggyu met his eyes for a moment before returning his gaze to the road again. He was still in disbelief if Woohyun was seriously serious about this whole penguin thing, but if not he had to be the world’s greatest actor.

“Are you doing this on purpose?” He sighed.

“Doing what…?” Woohyun glanced at the swaying trees out the window.

“Acting cute.”

Woohyun suddenly felt his ears get hot as he hesitantly turned to Sunggyu again. “…What?”

“N-Nothing.” Sunggyu quickly cleared his throat. “Anyways, I’m working at the aquarium’s café today, so we can eat there, ok? Just hang on a bit longer.”

Woohyun nodded with a relieved smile, at the mention of food. “Can we eat ice creams—?”

"No!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and your sweet comments everyone ehe <3  
> Fun fact: I researched how to give baths to babies while writing this chapter (though I guess I didn't use anything i learned from that lol)


	5. Happy Feet

Sunggyu was working the cash register at the café that morning, and Woohyun stood beside him behind the counter. In fact, Woohyun basically followed him anytime he moved, and even into the bathroom. Sunggyu was starting to wonder if Woohyun was a penguin or a puppy.

“ _Would explain why he’s so cute…well I guess those stupid birds are kinda cute too—wait what.”_

He was interrupted from his thoughts that he didn’t really want to be having when some teenage girls approached the counter. As soon as they spotted Woohyun standing behind Sunggyu, they proceeded to giggle and whisper amongst themselves.

Woohyun suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. They were looking at him—they were _laughing_ at him. Woohyun’s heart throbbed wildly and he suddenly felt dizzy. He didn’t want this again. He thought as a human, he wouldn’t be a joke anymore like this. But here these people were, laughing at him.

He suddenly bolted away to the breakroom in the far back of the café. The breakroom was dark and empty of people, and he sullenly flopped down beside the refrigerator and pulled his knees to his chest.

“ _Am I really such a joke…? Even as a human?”_ He was starting to think it wasn’t his species, it was just _him._ Maybe this was his destiny: to be laughed at like some stupid weirdo, he wondered as he felt water leaking from his eyes.

He quickly wiped his eyes, because he didn’t want his eyes to accidentally drown. What was the point of this eye rain that appeared whenever he felt sad? He just wanted to disappear.

Being a human sucked.

-

Sunggyu finished taking the teenage girls’ orders, and asked another one of the employees to cover the front counter for a moment. He looked around the back, in the bathroom, and finally found Woohyun sitting alone in the breakroom in the dark.

“Yah…” Sunggyu turned on the light, but Woohyun didn’t look up, his face buried in his arms. “What happened?” Sunggyu stared at him. “Why’re you sitting by the fridge? Isn’t it cold? Ah…did you find out that’s where the ice cream is?” However, his joking manner was wasted, as Woohyun didn’t budge from his position.

Sunggyu sighed and knelt down beside Woohyun and patted his head. “Did…something happen or…?”

Woohyun still didn’t say anything and Sunggyu was kind of at a loss.

“A-Atleast look at me—.”

Woohyun raised his head and there were tears flowing from his eyes and snot dripping from his nose.

“S-Sunggyu-sshi…” He hiccupped, between his sobs. “The rain is coming out of my nose too.”

“W-What happened?” Sunggyu immediately panicked. “Did someone hurt you?”

Woohyun hiccupped again and hugged his knees closer to his chest, but said nothing in response.

“If anything I thought you’d be happy with all that attention you were getting earlier from those girls…” Sunggyu murmured under his breath. “Though they were teenagers so…but I mean hey its still—.”

Woohyun hesitantly looked up again. “W…What?” He rubbed his eyes. “But…they were laughing at me. Why would that make me happy?” He mumbled.

“What? No they weren’t…” Sunggyu sighed and nudged Woohyun’s knee. “Look, with people…ok well basically those girls weren’t laughing _at_ you they got shy and excited because you’re handsome.”

Woohyun stared rather blankly into Sunggyu’s eyes for a moment. “You…think I’m handsome?”

“What?” Sunggyu frowned. “Uh…I guess from an objective standpoint if you consider this society’s viewpoints on what constitutes as attractive—.” He quickly realized Woohyun had no clue what he was talking about and sighed. “Yes, yes, you’re very handsome.”

Woohyun smiled shyly and tapped the tips of his shoes together in a bashful manner.

“Um…” Sunggyu scratched the back of his head. “So…are you ok now?”

Woohyun nodded and scrambled to his feet after he noticed Sunggyu was getting up. Though the moment, he was standing, he suddenly buried his face into Sunggyu’s shoulder.

It was safe to say Sunggyu was shocked. He suddenly remembered about how he was not supposed to give Woohyun reasons to think he liked him. So much for that, he realized when he felt Woohyun rubbing his nose into his bicep.

“Uh…” He awkwardly backed away, causing Woohyun to look up, his nose slightly red from the friction. “W-What’re you trying to do?”

Woohyun blinked for a moment, before chuckling in embarrassment. “Ah…I just…was trying to thank you…” He had this rather soft smile as he rubbed his forearm awkwardly, and Sunggyu was suddenly feeling guilty though he was basically the victim of the situation.

“Is that…” Sunggyu cleared his throat. “Like, what penguins do or…”

Woohyun nodded, though he still had a warm expression. “Sometimes, yeah.”

Sunggyu stared at him in a daze for a moment, and it made Woohyun feel nervous, and he started to wonder if he did something wrong. But then Sunggyu suddenly moved towards him again, whilst biting his lip. “Do you…” He paused as he met Woohyun’s gaze and the look in his eyes was somewhat mysterious and almost mischievous and Woohyun wasn’t sure he wanted to know why. “…want to know how humans thank each other?”

Woohyun didn’t know if it was lucky or unlucky that Dongwoo walked into the breakroom, interrupting them.

“Woohyunnie!” Dongwoo gasped, and soon the two shorties were reuniting like lovers after a war, and Sunggyu had successfully been completely disregarded. He merely sighed and made his way to the fridge for a cool drink. Though there was a bit of a smile on his face, he was weak towards both Dongwoo and Woohyun’s cuteness. It was a thing he wouldn’t admit to, but it was the truth.

-

“I’m sorry about last night.” Dongwoo frowned, as he sat down beside Woohyun at one of the empty tables in the front of the café. Meanwhile, Sunggyu was wiping one of the nearby tables, and wondering why the hell Dongwoo was sitting down and chatting instead of doing his goddamn job. “I should’ve warned you about my dad’s snoring. It even used to scare me sometimes!”

“…Snoring?” Woohyun blinked.

“Yeah, it’s a weird grunting sound people sometimes make when they’re sleeping.”

“Wait so…” Woohyun turned to Sunggyu, who had his back turned to them as he arranged the salt and pepper shakers. “There was no scary creature and it was just your dad?” Woohyun’s face turned red with embarrassment as he proceeded to bury his face in his hands.

Dongwoo patted Woohyun’s head with a pitying smile. “Its ok, you didn’t know. Anyone in your situation would’ve thought the same, I bet.”

“Dongwoo-yah…” Woohyun raised his head, his lips forming a perfectly cute little pout. “You’re way too nice to someone like me…”

“What’re you talking about?” Dongwoo grinned and nudged Woohyun’s leg under the table. “You just had a little misunderstanding. We all have those sometimes.”

Woohyun nodded pitifully and held onto Dongwoo’s hand.

“Ah, by the way…” Dongwoo brightened up. “Remember how we were talking about music and dancing last night? Well I’m getting some free time at the dance studio after work today—.” Suddenly Sunggyu’s ears perked up to their conversation as he put his rag down on the table. “So if you want, I could teach you some moves and stuff.”

Woohyun nodded with a cheerful smile. “That sounds great—.”

Sunggyu cleared his throat. “Excuse me, what?”

Dongwoo chuckled and looked up at Sunggyu while swaying his shoulders side-to-side.

“Wanna come too hyung? I know you never usually want to but—.”

“I’ll be there.” Sunggyu interrupted him, clear as day, as if he had known he would have to make this decision since the day he was born.

Dongwoo smiled to himself, then glanced at Woohyun from the corner of his eye. “I figured you would…”

“Don’t force yourself, Sunggyu-sshi.” Woohyun suddenly piped up, with a mischievous sparkle in his eye. “Dongwoo said you didn’t like dancing anyways so—.”

“He’s lying!” Sunggyu spluttered. “I…I love dancing. _I do_!”

Woohyun and Dongwoo giggled to themselves, and Sunggyu didn’t really appreciate their inclusiveness.

“Anyways, why are you so casual with Dongwoo, but then you’re so formal with me.” Sunggyu folded his arms. “Just call me hyung already. Stop being so stuffy and stiff its making me uncomfortable…”

Woohyun stared up at Sunggyu for a moment, before smiling in this almost gentle way that showed more in his eyes than anywhere else. “Sunggyu...hyung.” He said it way too cutely, with the tip of his tongue behind his teeth and a little smile afterwards. It was almost unfair.

These were the thoughts that surged through Sunggyu’s mind as he hastily turned around and proceeded to aggressively wipe down the table he had just finished cleaning.

-

Woohyun had never been to a dance studio before. It was a bare, wide room with hardwood flooring, and a mirror covering the entirety of one wall. As soon as Woohyun followed Dongwoo and Sunggyu inside, he hesitated in his tracks when he noticed people standing on the opposite side of the room. But then he realized the three people were moving towards them. Every time he took a step forward, one of the other people across the room did as well, in almost the exact same manner.

He suddenly took a running dash, and as he realized the person was running towards him as well, he smashed into the mirror and fell to the floor.

Sunggyu and Dongwoo turned around after hearing the loud thump of Woohyun hitting the floor and the whimpering that followed. Sunggyu muttered a “Jesus Christ” under his breath as Dongwoo laughed and went to see if Woohyun was ok.

After Dongwoo had managed to explain to Woohyun what a mirror was, the former penguin quietly sat on the floor in front of the mirror, just staring at his own reflection.

“ _Is this…”_ He reached out and pressed his hand to the cool glass. “ _This is…what I look like—what I really look like…”_

For a moment, he glanced at Sunggyu who was complaining to Dongwoo about how the vending machine didn’t have the drink he wanted. He thought about what happened earlier in the day and how Sunggyu had said he was handsome.

He faced the mirror again and clamped both his hands to his cheeks in a daze. He wasn’t quite sure what a handsome person looked like. Sure, he used to stare at Sunggyu a lot in the aquarium, but rather than him being handsome, he just liked that Sunggyu never laughed at him. (Though he did recall enjoying just looking at Sunggyu, though he wasn’t quite sure why.)

He stared at himself for a moment, then looked at Sunggyu again, then back at the mirror. He leaned in closer and pulled at his own lips. He’d never had lips before, and he kind of liked them. They were soft and squishy and a pretty color, unlike the beak he used to have.

He proceeded to poke his cheek, then study his teeth, and then poked his eye, whilst trying to touch his eyeball, which brought him slightly teary eyes and much regret.

He was enjoying learning about his new human face so much, he barely noticed the music turning on and Dongwoo cheerfully scooting behind him, until he was being pulled to his feet.

The music was infectious and so was Dongwoo’s laughter, and soon Woohyun found himself laughing along as he and Dongwoo danced around. Woohyun didn’t really know what he was doing, and kind of just flapped his body around, and although he felt embarrassed, he didn’t feel humiliated. Dongwoo was laughing, and he found himself laughing as well and he just felt good inside.

Sunggyu was sitting and watching them in amusement, until he saw them dancing in a conga line towards them.

“No.” He pointed at them. No, no—don’t you dare—.”

But Dongwoo and Woohyun ignored his protests and grabbed either of his arms and pulled him to his feet. They ended up holding hands and dancing around in a circle like a group of kindergarteners. Sunggyu felt sort of stupid, but then he noticed Woohyun’s gleeful expression—his eyes were practically closed from smiling so widely and he was laughing so much—the most Sunggyu had ever seen him laugh in the short time he’d known him.

Sunggyu had never really thought a man could be beautiful before.

His smile faded, as Dongwoo and Woohyun continued laughing.

“… _Crap.”_

-

Dongwoo told Sunggyu and Woohyun to go on ahead home, because he had to stay behind and lock up plus his house was in the opposite direction to Sunggyu’s apartment.

“Ok, but text me when you’re leaving and when you get home.” Sunggyu told Dongwoo who smiled and nodded as he stood in the entrance way and waved.

“See you tomorrow!”

Woohyun walked backwards for a bit and waved, then turned around and scurried to catch up with Sunggyu.

“Is it dangerous around here?” Woohyun asked as they walked along the sidewalk, the sky a medium blue, as the stars began to come out.

“Hm?” Sunggyu shrugged. “Not really, why?”

“No its just…you seemed worried about Dongwoo going home alone?”

“Ah,” Sunggyu smiled a bit at that and fondly looked ahead, as if he was seeing memories, rather than the boardwalk. “No, its not that…its just that he’s like a little brother I guess…its good to know he got home safely.” He turned to Woohyun and nodded in thought for a moment. “Kind of…like you maybe?”

Woohyun tilted his head, with a slight smile. “What do you mean?”

“Ah…that makes sense.” Sunggyu muttered to himself. “If it’s like a little brother—.” He suddenly slapped Woohyun’s back, startling the other man. “That’s it! You’re like a little brother! It makes sense now!”

“…W-What?” Woohyun frowned and rubbed his back.

“Nothing, nothing.” Sunggyu’s mood seemed to improve ten-fold, as he swung an arm around Woohyun’s shoulder.

Woohyun had no idea what Sunggyu was talking about but the fact that Sunggyu said he was like a little brother made him feel warm in his chest. It gave him a familial feeling and he realized it felt really nice and somewhat affectionate. Woohyun had never known his real family, and he kind of thought he would be lost, not knowing anyone, but Sunggyu and Dongwoo made him feel a bit less lonely in such a big world.

He smiled at Sunggyu, and thought about the word ‘handsome’ before, and as he studied Sunggyu jawline and sharp eyes and warm smile, he wondered if the slight throbbing feeling in his chest could mean something—like that’s what his heart registered as handsome. It made him wonder if everyone had their own definition of handsome, and to each person it had a different meaning. Being human was a bit complicated, but that night Woohyun felt like he was getting one step closer to understanding how to live as one.

He reached out and held onto Sunggyu’s hand, however Sunggyu immediately retracted his hand and laughed.

“What’re you doing?” He stared at Woohyun, though he seemed more amused than annoyed.

Woohyun looked slightly surprised as if two adults holding hands was the most natural thing in the world. “You don’t want to? But…Dongwoo holds my hand—.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not Dongwoo.” Sunggyu sighed and folded his arms. “Yah, if you like Dongwoo so much, then go stay with him.”

Woohyun nodded and clutched onto Sunggyu’s hand again, while chuckling. “I like you too hyung.”

Sunggyu looked a little too satisfied at hearing that and even let Woohyun hold onto his hand, as he nudged Woohyun’s shoulder with his own. “Really? Who do you like more, me or Dongwoo?”

Woohyun laughed but more in an embarrassed giggly sort of way. “What’re you talking about hyung?”

“For real though!” Sunggyu pressed on. “It’s ok if you say Dongwoo, though I might have to throw you off the boardwalk into the ocean if you do.”

Woohyun simply laughed even more, though it was clearly more out of embarrassment and being flustered at how to respond.

“Ah!” Sunggyu pointed as they passed an ice cream shop. “If you say it’s me, I’ll buy you ice cream.”

“Ah…why are you being like this…?” Woohyun made a whimpery sound, because damn it, he loved ice cream way too much. But at the same time Sunggyu was making him feel really weird and embarrassed and he, himself didn’t quite understand why.

However, Sunggyu was as stubborn as a mule and stood there in front of the shop with his arms folded. Woohyun meekly approached him and touched his forearm, then clutched onto Sunggyu’s hand with both of his, with his head down.

“Please…” He mumbled and looked up at Sunggyu with a sheepish smile. “Can I have ice creams?”

“…Wow,” Sunggyu snorted. “You really are shameless, aren’t you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The actually pairing of this story is Woohyun and ice cream, though unfortunately for Woohyun it seems pretty one-sided right now.  
> Also thank you to kiillopop_ds on twitter for all her cute fanarts for this fic!! They're way too cute I cry <3


	6. Beach Party

Sunggyu woke up the next morning to the clinking of pots. He sat up and looked around, realizing he was alone in bed. He was surprised that Woohyun actually properly listened to him and didn’t sneak into his bed last night.

“ _I guess he’s learning…”_ Sunggyu smiled a bit, until he heard the sound of the stove click, and something like a frying sound. “ _What the hell…?”_ He pulled the covers off and rushed out of his bedroom into the kitchen.

It was Woohyun…cooking…in his kitchen—and surprisingly not creating chaos.

But how the hell did Woohyun know how to use the stove, or the knives or—and then Sunggyu saw it—his laptop open at the kitchen table.

Last night after eating ice cream and coming home, Sunggyu had shown Woohyun his computer and the magic of the internet in hopes of enlightening him about the human world. However, he had specifically told Woohyun _not_ to use the computer without his permission. But of course Woohyun didn’t listen, of course he didn’t.

Sunggyu didn’t even know why he was surprised.

“What the hell are you doing?” He tapped his fingers on the counter, as Woohyun turned around, slightly startled.

“Ah…you’re awake.” Woohyun put his spatula down and began to approach Sunggyu, but he put his hand up to stop Woohyun.

“Ok firstly, I specifically told you not to use the computer without asking me, and second of all, how the hell did you learn to cook? What did you even make?” He brushed past Woohyun and peered into a frying pan, just as the rice cooker beeped. “When did you learn how to use the rice cooker?!”

Woohyun stared at him like a scolded child. “It…its really easy if you just type your question into the computer it tells you—.”

“I’m aware of how the internet works!” Sunggyu hissed. “But…” He pointed at the rather perfectly made omelet on the pan. “Why does this look good? Isn’t this like your first omelet ever? It’s not supposed to look this good what the hell.”

Woohyun smiled sheepishly. “Actually it wasn’t…I burnt a few but I just ate them so you wouldn’t see…”

Sunggyu sighed. He wanted to be mad at Woohyun, he really did, but seeing him trying so hard and actually bothering how to learn to cook kind of sort of melted his insides.

“When did you even wake up…?”

“Uh…” Woohyun folded his arms absently. He figured it’d be best to not tell Sunggyu about how he snuck into his bed last night, slept beside him, and woke up extra early so Sunggyu wouldn’t notice.

Luckily it seemed to be more of a rhetorical question, and Sunggyu was too busy marveling at the food Woohyun had made.

“Why did you suddenly decide you wanted to cook?”

“Huh?” Woohyun blinked. “Ah…” He picked up the spatula again and used it to scoop the omelet onto a plate. “I wanted to make some food for you, like to thank you…for everything. And I also cleaned up a bit, since no offense but this place was kind of a mess.” He gestured to the laundry machine, directly adjacent to the kitchen. There was a pile of folded shirts sitting on top of the machine, fresh and clean.

Sunggyu stared in awe at the shirts, then at the omelet, the rice cooker, and finally at Woohyun again.

“Oh and you need to get more eggs…and also some fish. You have no fish—.”

Suddenly Sunggyu grabbed both Woohyun’s hands. “Can we get married?”

Woohyun looked into his eyes in confusion. “Is that…a type of food—?”

“Seriously!” Sunggyu ignored Woohyun’s question and pulled him into a hug. “You can stay here forever Woohyunnie, ok?”

A lot of surprising and confusing things had happened to Woohyun since becoming a human, but this was probably in the top 3. Sunggyu was…holding him? For some reason he didn’t quite understand. Was he that happy to see food and clean clothes, Woohyun wondered. But at the same time it was somewhat alarming, because his heart was beating really quickly, almost like it was attacking his chest, fighting to escape.

Sunggyu’s body was really warm, he was too close, Woohyun didn’t really know what to do, but it felt really, really nice. No—it didn’t feel nice at all, it was rather stressful, but a good kind of stress that made him excited. Woohyun really didn’t understand the human body at all.

 He was fine just a minute ago, even when he was over a hot stove he felt ok, but now his face felt all warm and he was slightly trembling and he had no clue why.

And then Sunggyu was smiling at him and Woohyun found himself rather stupidly smiling back, though he seemed to have forgotten how to speak.

Sunggyu didn’t seem to notice luckily, and refocused his attention on breakfast.

-

“So…” Sunggyu was sitting adjacent from Woohyun at his small square shaped black kitchen table, and stared at Woohyun’s leg—most of which was exposed thanks to the black jersey shorts he was wearing (that Sunggyu had bought him.) “Whats the deal with those heart tattoos…?”

“Hm?” Woohyun blinked, and then absently touched his leg. “Ah…”

Sunggyu sipped some of his coffee as Woohyun proceeded to explain to him about how he had to make five people fall for him in order for him to continue living.

“Ok but like…” Sunggyu tilted his head as if to sneak a peek at Woohyun’s thigh. “Why there…on your leg?”

Woohyun shrugged.

“How many people do you have get to fall in love with you?”

“Five.”

“How many hearts do you have left?”

“Five.”

Sunggyu stared at Woohyun for a moment, blinking in disbelief. “Don’t you only have like six months? Uh…aren’t you kind of running out of time?”

“Kind of, yes.” Woohyun sighed and rested his cheek on the kitchen table in a tired state. “Hyung…what’ll I do if I disappear…?”

“Y-Yah…” Sunggyu hesitantly patted his head. “Don’t think like that—a-all we have to do is get five people to fall for you. That shouldn’t be too hard considering you’re pretty good looking. Ok yes, we can use that.”

Woohyun sat up straight, eyes drooping. “…Really?”

“Sure.” Sunggyu nodded in a matter of fact way. “We just have to get you somewhere where there’s lots of girls…” His eyes narrowed in thought for a few moments, before a light bulb went off in his head. A week ago, Dongwoo had invited him to a beach party that people at his dance studio were throwing and Sunggyu had passed, claiming he had important things to do.

The party was that evening.

It was the perfect opportunity for Woohyun to charm some ladies.

-

In order to charm the ladies, Woohyun needed to have the right look for the beach party, according to Sunggyu. Simple t-shirts, jersey shorts and flip flops wouldn’t cut it, so they got in Sunggyu’s car and drove off to the mall.

“There’s this kid, who works at one of the clothing stores and he really knows a lot about fashion so he’ll help us find something for you to wear.” Sunggyu explained. “Plus he really likes me so he’ll give us a discount.”

As they were walking into the mall, Woohyun couldn’t help but look into the window of every shop they passed. There were so many types of clothes, bright colors, black ones, different patterns and fabrics, illuminated by pretty lights. Woohyun wanted to try on everything.

They walked into a brightly lit store with racks and racks of summery clothes. Woohyun followed Sunggyu to the counter where a young man was standing. He had round, cute eyes, dark long bangs and an impeccable sense of fashion, judging from the outfit he was sporting.

The boy looked up. “Welcome—oh it’s just you hyung.” His polite smile immediately faded and he sat back down and flipped a page of the open magazine that was on the counter.

“Yah, what kind of reaction is that to your favorite hyung?” Sunggyu grinned and leaned an elbow on the counter.

“Hm?” Sungjong looked behind Sunggyu. “Is Dongwoo hyung here?”

Sunggyu let out the fakest laugh possible and turned to Woohyun. “Isn’t he adorable?”

Woohyun shrugged. He didn’t really quite understand what Sunggyu viewed as adorable or if he was even being serious.

“This is Woohyun…he needs an outfit for a beach party.” Sunggyu told Sungjong.

Sungjong stared at Woohyun and Woohyun quietly stared back. There was a somewhat awkward silence that Sunggyu felt he needed to break so he cleared his throat. “So anyways, since you’re the expert can you like…pick out some clothes for him?” Then he nudged Woohyun. “You can speak too, you know?”

But Woohyun didn’t say anything and neither did Sungjong.

-

Sungjong helped them choose some clothes for Woohyun to try on and then went back to his post at the cash register, while Sunggyu waited outside the fitting room for Woohyun.

“Hyung…” He heard Woohyun whisper from the behind the thick beige curtain of the dressing room. “I’m…sort of having some issues with this…clothing item?”

Sunggyu brazenly pulled the curtain aside, startling a half-naked Woohyun who protectively covered his underwear-clad lower half with the pants he was holding.

“Why do you always get shy about it when I’ve already seen you naked a bunch of times...” Sunggyu sighed and grabbed the pants from Woohyun.

“W-Wait!” Woohyun whined. “I wanna do it myself.”

“But you just said you can’t.”

“I can!” Woohyun argued and grabbed the pants from Sunggyu and started pulling them on. He managed to get them on, however he was stuck on how the zipper and button worked.

Sunggyu watched from behind him in the mirror in front of them in amusement as Woohyun awkwardly tried to pull the two flaps of his jeans together.

“Need some help?”

“No…” Woohyun muttered.

But Sunggyu ignored him, because frankly they didn’t have all day, and slipped his arms around Woohyun’s waist from behind as he zipped and buttoned his pants up for him.

Woohyun did not appreciate Sunggyu doing it for him—or the fact that he could feel Sunggyu’s chest touching his back, or the fact that Sunggyu’s chin was on his shoulder, _or_ the fact that he could feel Sunggyu’s breath on his ear.

Woohyun also didn’t appreciate the strange gasp-like, shudder that escaped his own throat when Sunggyu murmured something in his ear.

Woohyun didn’t appreciate it at all.

He hastily elbowed Sunggyu away, though Sunggyu didn’t seem to notice Woohyun’s flustered state and pointed in the mirror.

“Hey, you look good in those pants. Should we get them—?”

Woohyun proceeded to shove Sunggyu out of the fitting room and then whip the curtain shut.

-

“Hyung, you’re paying?” Sungjong raised his eyebrows as Sunggyu handed him his credit card. Sunggyu glanced at Woohyun from the corner of his eye, while the younger man cautiously pulled out a hanger, but then got startled when the shirt that was on it fell on his foot.

“He’s uh…short on cash right now, so I’m helping him out.” Sunggyu coughed.

A snort sound like sound escaped Sungjong’s throat as he scanned the clothing items.

“If you say so…”

“Yah.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Sungjong shrugged innocently.

“That’s right you didn’t.” Sunggyu nodded, somehow believing he was someone that Sungjong had even an ounce of respect for. (He wasn’t.)

-

Woohyun was uncomfortably quiet after the incident in the fitting room, and Sunggyu didn’t really understand why, but it was rather unpleasant. So, as soon as they left the store, Sunggyu offered up the one and only thing he knew that would make Woohyun happy: ice cream.

Of course Woohyun didn’t refuse, but he didn’t give Sunggyu the ecstatic reaction he was expecting either.

They sat down at a bench across from the ice cream parlor and ate their ice cream cones in silence—vanilla for Woohyun and strawberry for Sunggyu.

“So…like…” Sunggyu murmured. “Are you mad at me or something…?”

“…No.”

“Then why aren’t you saying anything?”

Woohyun turned to Sunggyu, but the moment their eyes met, Woohyun immediately looked away in a flustered manner.

“I…I have nothing to say to you.” Woohyun muttered and stood up, his back to Sunggyu.

“ _Why did he suddenly get so moody…? Is it a penguin thing?”_ Sunggyu wondered as he looked Woohyun up and down for a moment, only to realize that the view…wasn’t a bad one. He looked away in disdain. “ _Damn it…why does a penguin have such a nice body…”_

“I never found you creepier than I do right now hyung.”

Sunggyu jumped slightly, almost knocking his foot on the bench’s leg, when he heard Sungjong’s voice. The younger man was casually perched beside him on the bench.

“What the hell? When did you get here?”

“While you were busy staring at your sugar baby.”

 “My…what…?” Sunggyu stared at Sungjong rather stupidly for a moment. “What the hell I’m only 22! I can’t even be my own sugar daddy let alone someone else’s!”

Sungjong frowned. “When are you going to stop lying about your age hyung? C’mon no one seriously believes you’re 22—.”

“That’s my real age! And excuse you I’m super cute and totally look like my age!”

Sungjong sent him a pitying look. “Whatever you say hyung…”

-

Sunggyu and Woohyun finally made it to the beach for the party, but as they walked along the sand, there was no one around.

“I thought…” Sunggyu scratched his head. “I’m pretty sure this is where the party was supposed to be...so where is everyone…?” He checked his watch, and apparently the party should’ve started ten minutes ago. Woohyun watched him helplessly as Sunggyu called up Dongwoo to ask about it.

It turned out, they came at the right time, however…the party was last week.

Sunggyu sent Woohyun a sheepish smile. “Whoops.”

Woohyun sighed and looked towards the horizon—the sun was already setting. He didn’t realize they had spent the whole day shopping and walking around the mall. In most cases it was a rather uneventful day, but somehow, thinking it over, Woohyun realized he kind of enjoyed it.

He smiled a bit at the ocean and turned to Sunggyu. “I can’t believe we did all this for nothing. You’re a disgrace.”

They looked at each other for a moment, before a snort like laugh escaped Sunggyu’s throat and Woohyun returned it with a sheepish grin, before they both burst into giggles.

“Yah…where’d you learn to talk like that?” Sunggyu nudged him playfully. “Is this what they taught you in penguin school?”

“What’s that?” Woohyun smiled in a clueless manner, the joke being lost on him.

Sunggyu helplessly smiled back, because Woohyun’s smile had such an innocent feel to it, and it made his heart do a flip. “Never mind.” He murmured softly and patted Woohyun’s head.

They ended up sprawled out in the sand, with Sunggyu lying flat, and Woohyun building a sand fort around him until the sun went down completely.

“Come on, we should go.” Sunggyu got to his feet, as he dusted sand off his knees.

Woohyun, who was still in the midst of his sand fort looked up with a pleading look.

“Already?” He frowned. “Just a little longer?”

“Its gonna get dark soon.” Sunggyu explained and Woohyun sighed sadly.

“Ok…” He muttered and pushed against the sand to get to his feet, when he noticed something as his shorts rode up a bit—there was only four heart markings on his thigh. He gasped and yanked up his shorts leg to make sure and counted and re-counted, but there was still only four.

“Hey, are you coming?” He looked up to see Sunggyu already a few feet away and blinked hazily as the other man got even farther away.

“ _Is it…could it have been…Sunggyu hyung…?”_


	7. The First Heart

It was about 2 years ago when Sunggyu had first started working at the aquarium, when he was still fresh and new to the working world. Being a newer employee, he was given the graveyard janitorial shift—aka the bottom of the totem pole among the available jobs.

He didn’t really mind much the being alone at night part, though the cleaning was not his favorite. After he got over the initial scariness of wandering the dark, blue-lit aquarium alone, he found it somewhat peaceful in a way.

One evening he was sweeping the hall near the penguin habitat, when he noticed a small table with a sign by the penguin label and information stand. On the table were several clear plastic boxes, each labeled with a different name and picture of a penguin. The sign indicated it was some sort of popularity contest for the penguins and Sunggyu found himself snorting.

“ _How are you even supposed to tell them apart…?”_ He glanced into the glass tank and noticed some penguins floating about while others were standing while they slept. He almost wanted to laugh at the amusing sight and dug his hand into his pocket to find his phone to take a picture. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find his phone and realized he left it in the bathroom while he was mopping the stalls.

“ _Ah…”_ He sighed and stared at his broom, leaning against the glass, wondering if he should go fetch his phone, or finish cleaning up first. But then he noticed something—a single little penguin standing right there…staring.

Well, obviously he wasn’t staring at him, Sunggyu figured and waved his hand absently. The penguin suddenly became excitable and started pecking at the glass, startling Sunggyu.

“ _Wait…is he…looking at me?”_ Sunggyu looked around for a moment before apprehensively moving towards the tank, the penguin suddenly stopped and took a step back. It was almost amusing to Sunggyu, how the little bird’s actions were so human-like.

He knelt down in front of the tank and tilted his head, a slight smile forming as the penguin cautiously hobbled forward.

“You’re not sleeping?” Sunggyu murmured and he swore the penguin’s tiny eyes sparkled. “Wow I must really be losing it…I’m talking to a penguin.” Sunggyu sighed and waved at the penguin some more. “Go sleep with your friends. Don’t stand here alone.” He instructed the penguin, but of course the bird wouldn’t listen and quietly stood there. “ _Why does he look so lonely…?”_ Sunggyu wondered if it was just his imagination. This penguin appeared smaller than the other ones and his actions were odd, and somewhat like a person’s. “ _What a weird little guy…”_ He leaned in, his nose almost touching the glass. “Hang in there, little guy.” He gave the bird a ‘fighting’ sign, before getting up and walking over to the penguin popularity contest stand. The small penguin had a blue band around his ankle, indicating his was the clear box with a blue sign, since all the penguins have different colored ankle bands to identify them easier.

Sunggyu looked into the penguin with the blue band’s box and noticed it was completely empty. He felt bad for the small penguin almost immediately and scribbled his name onto one of the heart shaped pieces of paper for voting, and put it in the penguin’s box.

“ _There, at least now he has one.”_

-

“Why’re you just sitting there?” Sunggyu had a cup of tea in his hand as he stared at Woohyun awkwardly sitting on the couch. “Aren’t you coming to my room to sleep?”

Woohyun folded his hands and looked up at Sunggyu for a moment before smiling shyly and letting his gaze fall again. “I thought you didn’t want me to sleep in your room with you?”

Sunggyu blinked stupidly. “I…I don’t! Right yeah, sleep here…do whatever you want—I-I don’t know!” He muttered some complaints as he stumbled out of the living room down the hall.

Woohyun sighed softly and lay down on the couch. He wondered if one of the heart markings on his thigh disappearing really _was_ because of Sunggyu. It wasn’t like Woohyun had spent time with anyone else that day to make them fall for him.

But why would Sunggyu fall in love with _him_? They were both men too.

Woohyun remembered hearing something about two male penguins falling in love before at a zoo through overhearing gossip from the other penguins. He wasn’t sure if that could happen with humans though.

He recalled the swamp witch said a person didn’t necessarily have to fall in love with him, but just end up genuinely liking him as a person. Woohyun figured that could be it, because there was no way Sunggyu could’ve fallen in love with him.

“ _But why would he genuinely like me as a person…? What does that even mean?”_ Woohyun groaned and rolled over so his face was planted into the couch cushion. “ _Does he even like me at all…?”_ Woohyun clutched onto a throw pillow and made a whimpery noise. “ _I hope he does…”_

_-_

Sunggyu had a huge dilemma.

The next morning, he had somehow woken up rather early, only to realize Woohyun hadn’t snuck into his bed. He smiled to himself, feeling like Woohyun had really improved lately. That is, he hobbled into the living room, hoping to catch the morning news on television, and saw Woohyun sprawled out, stomach down, on the sofa—one foot hanging off the edge.

Sunggyu wouldn’t have minded that much, until he realized the tv remote was nowhere to be found. Since walking over to the television and pressing the power button was clearly not an option for Sunggyu, he threw himself into panic mode. There was only one place the remote could’ve been—underneath Woohyun’s sleeping body.

Now, Sunggyu could’ve easily given up on watching television and simply have gone back to bed or even gone to make himself some breakfast. But no, it was too early and he was still not in a manner to be making sensible decisions. So instead, he poked Woohyun’s arm a few times, but all he got from that was a slight groan. Since that didn’t work, he proceeded to attempt to reach under Woohyun’s stomach for the remote. He somehow thought it would be a good idea to do this with both arms, so that he could search more of the couch that was hidden under Woohyun’s body. He wedged one hand between Woohyun’s stomach and the sofa, accidentally pulling up the sleeping former penguin’s t-shirt at the same time. Of course at this point Woohyun had been stirred awake, just in time to feel Sunggyu’s other arm accidentally graze his newly exposed hip bone. He found himself letting out a shuddery gasp, before immediately crawling to the other side of the couch in a bewildered half asleep state.

“W-What’re you doing?” Woohyun stammered, his arms forming an x-shape over his chest.

Sunggyu stared at him with wide eyes for a moment. But then he realized there was a lot of things Woohyun didn’t know about humans and their mannerisms and practices, so maybe he wouldn’t misunderstand Sunggyu in a negative way. “What…” He cleared his throat, attempting to sound calm. “What did you think I was doing?”

Woohyun gave him an ‘are you kidding me’ look. “Well it kind of seemed like you were trying to mate with me!”

Sunggyu cursed under his breath. “I guess humans and penguins really aren’t that different after all…”

“What?”

“N-Nothing.” Sunggyu coughed. “Listen, it’s not what it looked like. I was just trying to—.”

“I-I’m not a female you know?” Woohyun blurted out. “I can’t have your eggs so leave me alone!”

Before Sunggyu could even properly explain himself, Woohyun attempted to bolt out of the room. But before he could, Sunggyu instinctively grabbed his arm and basically, though mostly unintentionally tackled him to the floor, with Woohyun yelling the whole time that he was a man and therefore could not lay an egg.

“Humans don’t even lay eggs dumb ass, just calm down.” Sunggyu sighed and pulled Woohyun up from the floor into a sitting position. “Why would you even think I’d want to…mate with you? I like women.”

Woohyun stared at him in a surprised manner. “R-Really?”

“Why is that so surprising to you?” Sunggyu eyed him suspiciously. “Anyways I was just trying to get the tv remote…which I now realize is here…” He picked up the remote that had been under the coffee table the whole time, feeling rather stupid.

“…Oh.” Woohyun stared at the floorboards they were sitting on for a moment. “Well that’s a relief because I don’t think I have much interest in mating with a man.”

“Well that makes two of us.” Sunggyu started to get up. “Anyways, speaking of mating, I thought of another idea to get a woman to fall in love with you.”

-

“So what am I doing exactly?” Woohyun asked, as Sunggyu helped him dress up in some of the clothes they had bought yesterday, thanks to Sungjong’s assistance.

“It’s a date.” Sunggyu explained, reaching to unbutton the top button of the white button up shirt Woohyun was wearing. “We’ll introduce you to a nice girl and then you sit down and have a meal with her and try to make her fall for you. Its someone from Dongwoo’s dance class, she’s pretty and nice, you’ll like her.”

Woohyun stared at him like a deer in the headlights. “How…am I supposed to make her like me?”

“I don’t know.” Sunggyu shrugged as he smoothed a crease in Woohyun’s shirt and adjusted his collar. “Just like…be yourself or something.”

“That’s not really helpful at all.” Woohyun frowned.

-

Sunggyu and Woohyun met up with Dongwoo outside a quaint little café by the pier. Dongwoo introduced Woohyun to his dance class friend and they sat down at a table. Dongwoo and Sunggyu left them to talk alone, and sat down at a table, a little farther away to watch over them.

“Hey, thanks for doing this.” Sunggyu said as he opened up a menu because if they were there he might as well order a drink.

Sunggyu had explained to Dongwoo about Woohyun’s heart tattoo situation earlier which was what brought them to Woohyun’s blind date.

“No problem, I hope they like each other.”

“I just hope she ends up liking him so at least that’s one person we can check off the list.” Sunggyu sighed and leaned back in his chair. Dongwoo smiled and swayed to and fro as he watched Sunggyu yawn and stare off into space for a moment.

“So what were you up to yesterday?” Dongwoo finally asked.

“I called you didn’t I? I thought that party you invited me to was yesterday so I took Woohyun shopping to get him some clothes to wear for it…but then well, yeah.” Sunggyu sighed and narrowed his eyes as his gaze fell over Dongwoo’s shoulder towards where Woohyun and his date were sitting. He noticed Woohyun’s little nervous actions and how the tips of his ears were red and goddamnit why was it so cute?

“Oh…” Dongwoo nodded. “Right…It was just, a little lonely, you know?” He gave Sunggyu a toothy grin. “We usually hang out on Saturdays. I missed you hyung.”

Sunggyu snorted but he still grabbed Dongwoo’s hand across the table and smiled at the younger man. “Tonight then, just you and me.”

“And Woohyun.” Dongwoo added with a chuckle.

“Nah, if I leave him at home with enough water and food and a warm blanket, he’ll be fine.”

“He’s not a dog hyung.”

Sunggyu suddenly leaned in on the table with a suspicious gaze. “Ok but, are we sure…I mean he says he used to be a penguin, but…”

“What do you mean?” Dongwoo grinned.

“Well…” Sunggyu pursed his lips for a moment in thought. “He’s super clingy…like you know he can’t even sleep by himself?”

Dongwoo paused for a moment. “Wait…you mean you actually let him…sleep in _your_ bed? _With_ you?”

Sunggyu didn’t really want to feel embarrassed about it because it was stupid, but his face still felt warm. “S-So? You did too!”

“Yeah but…” Dongwoo stared at him like he’d grown two heads and a horn. “I’m me and…you’re _you_.”

“It was just a few nights…” Sunggyu mumbled.

“A _few_? As in more than once?” Dongwoo leaned back, and proceeded to shake his head in amazement. “Wow hyung, you really…wow…”

Meanwhile Woohyun was trying his best on his date, despite being nervous and not really knowing exactly _how_ to get Dongwoo’s friend to like him. She was nice enough, and pretty and friendly, though that did nothing to ease Woohyun’s nerves, and might’ve even made it worse.

It reminded him that he still didn’t even know who was the reason for the 1st heart marking on his thigh disappearing. He was sure it was Sunggyu, liking him as a friend. There was no other solution, but he kept second-guessing himself wondering why and if Sunggyu even liked him at all.

-

After the date, Woohyun politely bid farewell to the girl, who left for the studio with Dongwoo, leaving Sunggyu and Woohyun standing outside the café.

“So,” Sunggyu nudged Woohyun. “How’d it go? Did one of the heart tattoos disappear?”

“Um…” Woohyun rubbed his arm absently. “Well…about that…yeah.”

“Wait…really?” Sunggyu gasped and nudged him again, this time harder. “Yah, that was fast! Wah I never met someone who could—.”

“Not from today.” Woohyun interrupted and sighed softly. He didn’t know why he was feeling nervous to ask Sunggyu about the disappearing heart marking. It wasn’t like he really cared if Sunggyu liked him or not—ok that was a lie.

He cared—he cared a lot.

Woohyun kind of had a habit of wanting everyone to like him, even though he knew that wasn’t possible. But he wanted to be treated differently now as a human—not as a feathered spectacle in a tank, but as someone who could be respected and loved. He wondered if he was deserving of such treatment.

He also wondered why he only felt that was possible as a human and not as a penguin. It made him suddenly feel a rush of sadness as he realized that being an animal—that wasn’t human—made it almost impossible to hope for respect and legitimate love and appreciation from humans.

“Yesterday…” Woohyun mumbled, “It happened yesterday sometime between us going to that mall place and the ocean…”

Sunggyu frowned, his eyebrows furrowed and Woohyun could practically see the gears of thought spinning in his head. “That’s weird…who was it then? Dongwoo?”

“I don’t think so…I mean I didn’t even see Dongwoo yesterday. Why would that marking randomly disappear if he didn’t even see me?” Woohyun stared at Sunggyu with an unintentional look of anticipation. He wanted Sunggyu to suggest himself, so Woohyun wouldn’t have to do it for him.

“Maybe it was some random girl who fell in love with you at first sight.” Sunggyu joked, but Woohyun didn’t really find it funny.

“Hyung…” Woohyun bit his lip, nervously. “Was it…you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its turning into a mystery of who is the first person who's heart Woohyun stole lol. Except is it really a mystery or is the answer actually really obvious hm hm hmmmm. Anyways a little tidbit of the past and how Sunggyu and Woohyun met each other before they actually, well met each other ehe  
> And no, ice creams didn't make an appearance in this chapter :(


	8. Working Bird

“Was it…you?”

Woohyun suddenly regretted blurting out the words, when Sunggyu went completely silent.

“Uh…” He suddenly forced a laugh. “I-It was just a joke! Wasn’t it funny?” Woohyun nudged Sunggyu and forced more laughter though Sunggyu seemed somewhat unnerved and only gave an awkward half smile in response. Woohyun’s heart was beating faster and harder—he didn’t want Sunggyu to feel uncomfortable and figured he might’ve been wrong about it being Sunggyu.

“Um…” Woohyun twiddled his thumbs. “The swamp witch said that a heart marking could disappear if someone likes me genuinely as a friend, s-so…maybe…”

Suddenly Sunggyu burst into laughter and smacked Woohyun’s back. “Yah, why didn’t you say that sooner!” Woohyun was kind of sort of flabbergasted by Sunggyu’s sudden change in behavior. “Ah…but too bad I don’t even like you as a friend.”

Woohyun’s heart had never sunk so fast, he almost felt like crying, but then a snort like sound escaped Sunggyu’s throat and he playfully nudged Woohyun.

Woohyun realized Sunggyu was joking and he officially needed to lie down after having such a roller coaster of emotions in such a short span of time.

Woohyun hated Sunggyu.

No, that wasn’t true in the slightest, but he was certainly starting to hate how Sunggyu continuously made him feel 50 different emotions within 5 seconds. It was way too stressful.

But he still felt relieved that Sunggyu did like him as a friend and the mystery of the first heart marking was resolved. Though there was something of an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach.

-

“ _How could he even ask me that…?”_ Sunggyu aggressively wiped the counter as he stared at Woohyun who was smiling politely as he handed a table of mothers with toddlers a tray of fries. Sunggyu had the afternoon shift at the aquarium café and of course, Woohyun tagged along. “ _I don’t even like men and why the hell would I fall in love with him…and so quickly too? Who does he think he is?”_ He watched Woohyun pick up a napkin that one of the ladies dropped and even helped one of the toddlers get to her seat. “ _Goddamnit why is he being so nice its making it harder to be angry at him…”_ Sunggyu grumbled as Woohyun bowed to the table and smiled shyly to himself as he walked back over to the counter. “ _And why the hell is he acting like he works here? I sure as hell am not paying him!”_

Woohyun leaned against the counter and flashed Sunggyu a cutely proud smile. “Hyung, I gave that table their food.” He looked like he was waiting for some sort of praise that Sunggyu was definitely not going to give him.

“So?” Sunggyun muttered and pretended to look busy by counting the money in the cash register.

But Woohyun didn’t seem to mind Sunggyu’s apparent grumpiness and chuckled.

“What else should I do?”

“You don’t even work here!” Sunggyu blurted out.

Woohyun giggled, actually _giggled._ Sunggyu was slowly giving up on life.

Woohyun smiled in a way that was way too cute and somewhat bashful. “But hyung does, so I want to help.”

Sunggyu was two seconds away from grabbing Woohyun’s head over the counter and squeezing the life out of him for being so damn cute when his phone buzzed and saved his last shred of dignity.

He turned away from Woohyun and checked to see that it was just a generic text from his phone’s service provider. He was in fact, not saved at all.

And Woohyun had moved to the other side of the counter and was standing right next to him, patiently waiting for Sunggyu to pay attention to him again.

Sunggyu didn’t understand why Woohyun was so moody since yesterday and now he was the complete opposite and barely leaving him any breathing room.

Sunggyu didn’t understand Woohyun at all.

-

Woohyun followed Sunggyu into the back room where another one of the employees, dark haired, tall and sometimes snarky Sungyeol was working the deep fryer.

“Hyung,” Woohyun tugged at Sunggyu’s sleeve and leaned into his ear to whisper a question. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

Sunggyu choked on his own spit and shoved Woohyun away in an instant. “No!”

“But…” Woohyun frowned. “Friends let friends sleep in each other’s beds. It’s a fact.”

“Since when?!”

“Friends with benefits maybe.” Sungyeol added in a joking tone as he dipped the potatoes in the oil.

“What’s that?” Woohyun held onto Sunggyu’s arm. “Can we be friends with benefits hyung?”

“No, we cannot!” Sunggyu retorted and shifted away from Woohyun’s grasp to lean into Sungyeol’s shoulder.

“Save me.” He murmured.

“From what?” Sungyeol chuckled.

“From myself.” Sunggyu sighed dramatically, whilst clutching onto the taller man’s arm. Sungyeol snorted and pushed him away lightly, but Sunggyu held on like a leech. “Anyways, when are we going on a date? Hyung is lonely.”

“Don’t call it that.” Sungyeol hissed and elbowed him again to no avail.

“Well what else would you call two men who love each other and are best friends who go off on adventures?”

“Since when do I love _you_?” Sungyeol snorted. “And I’m trying to work here.”

“Since when do you actually _work_?”

“Since now!”

Woohyun watched the two awkwardly, feeling very much forgotten. He figured he should quietly slink away, but at the same time he didn’t want to. He kind of wanted to be included too, but he didn’t know how to join in. And it kind of bothered him that Sunggyu could easily say he loved this Sungyeol fellow but could barely say he even _liked_ Woohyun.

Woohyun wanted affection too and stared at his shoes sadly.

“Hey look, now you made him sad.” Sungyeol nudged Sunggyu to look at Woohyun.

Sunggyu watched as Woohyun quietly turned for the door, before calling out his name. “Want to get ice cream?”

Woohyun turned around, with a pout. “You mean…like you two get ice creams and I stay here or—?”

“No dummy.” Sunggyu rolled his eyes. “You and me.”

Woohyun glanced over Sunggyu’s shoulder at Sungyeol. “What about…”

“Him?” Sunggyu gestured to Sungyeol. “Nah, he has to work.”

“Don’t you also—?”

“Nope.” Sunggyu grabbed Woohyun’s arm and guided him out of the backroom. “I can leave whatever I want.”

A small smile formed on Woohyun’s face, but he didn’t really want to make it seem like he wanted all Sunggyu’s attention for himself or anything. He was an independent man who didn’t need anyone else to have fun and do things. He could do things on his own.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Woohyun suddenly said and pulled away from Sunggyu. “I’ll just go on my own.”

Sunggyu snorted. “Ok, but do you even know where the ice cream place is, or have any money for that matter?”

“Sure I do.” Woohyun held up Sunggyu’s wallet. “Right here.”

Sunggyu’s eyes widened as he pointed at the other man in shock and horror. “When…When did you—?”

“Thanks hyung, I always wanted to use that thing they call a credit card.” Woohyun sang as he skipped out of the café

-

 Woohyun was nervous to go on a journey alone, since he’d never been out on his own since becoming a human. Though it wasn’t much of a journey alone, with Sunggyu chasing after him, while yelling out curse words.

Woohyun purposely slowed down so Sunggyu could catch up to him. He kind of expected Sunggyu to be pissed off, but instead, Sunggyu simply grabbed his wallet from him and attempted to catch his breath.

“I won’t forget this…” Sunggyu muttered in a threatening tone.

Woohyun didn’t seem affected though, and hugged his arm and leaned into his shoulder. “Don’t be mad hyung.” Sunggyu already felt himself softening and he could only sigh while trying to conceal a very obvious smile.

“You know what,” Sunggyu checked his watch. “It’s getting late, we should get some dinner.”

-

Woohyun leaned across the table of the dimly lit restaurant he and Sunggyu were seated at.

“This,” He held up a tiny shot glass of soju. “This is…”

“You don’t like it right?” Sunggyu grinned.

“No! Its…good. Like it doesn’t taste good but the feeling it gives is…” Woohyun tilted his head in amazement. “It’s something else…who would think a flavored water could make you feel this way…?”

Sunggyu nodded like he was dealing with a child and scanned his menu. “Just pace yourself ok…if you drink too much…” However, as he was speaking, Woohyun was ignoring him and proceeded to pour himself three more shots.

Sunggyu soon realized he had made a terrible mistake.

10 minutes later, and Woohyun had his cheek pressed to the table as he made grabby hands towards Sunggyu.

“Hyung…” He murmured. “Hold my hand.”

Sunggyu ignored him and handed him a fry instead. “Here, eat something.”

Woohyun grabbed Sunggyu’s wrist and rubbed his cheek against the back of the older man’s hand. And then he giggled, followed by a hiccup.

Sunggyu kind of wanted to reverse time so he would’ve never ordered alcohol and would’ve never seen how adorable Woohyun could be when he’s tipsy.

As if a sober Woohyun wasn’t bad enough, Sunggyu thought.

-

Woohyun settled down after Sunggyu managed to get some food in him and the warm summery evening breeze as they walked back to Sunggyu’s apartment seemed to help too.

Though as soon as Sunggyu was lying down, relaxed on his bed, preparing to sleep, Woohyun climbed on top of him and rested his head on Sunggyu’s chest. He let out a content sigh and Sunggyu was somewhat annoyed that he was being treated as a pillow.

“Um if you want to sleep,” Sunggyu pointed to the ground. “The floor’s right there.”

Woohyun ignored him and let out another content sigh, this one louder than the previous one. He knew Sunggyu didn’t meant it anyways, and either way, all he could feel was a sense of relief. He had gotten one heart—one person to genuinely like him. He only had four more, and it finally felt like things were possible again. And he was incredibly thankful that Sunggyu was his first heart, though he wasn’t exactly sure why. He figured it had to do with how much he had admired Sunggyu in the aquarium, while he was in his penguin form and had always wondered if he were human, would things like being friends with someone like Sunggyu even be possible.

But now here they were—friends—actually legitimate friends. It warmed Woohyun’s already warm heart and gave him this cozy feeling in his chest.

-

Woohyun decided that it was time he started working. It wasn’t like he could rely on Sunggyu and Dongwoo forever. And that seemed to be the only way to get money which he could use to get ice cream.

So thanks to Dongwoo’s help and the ever so dependable internet, they discovered a suitable job that was close by to Sunggyu’s apartment so Woohyun could walk there himself.

The two, along with a reluctant Sunggyu headed out to the café, with a fake resume and sharply dressed clothes for Woohyun.

It was some sort of flower boy café that only hired attractive men as the employees and since most of their customers were women, they figured it’d be a convenient way to get some of Woohyun’s heart markings to disappear.

The moment Woohyun walked in and handed the owner his resume, the manager yelled that he was hired. He seemed incredibly thankful for Woohyun’s appearance and started claiming that it was fate that such a handsome face would walk into his self proclaimed “handsome face heaven.”

Sunggyu already wanted to leave. And kind of sort of wanted to take Woohyun with him. He didn’t know if it was the smartest idea to let Woohyun work here with such a high strung and frankly just strange person running the place.

But Woohyun seemed excited, if not incredibly nervous and Sunggyu didn’t have the heart to tell him they should leave.

So Woohyun successfully obtained his first job.

The next afternoon, he started his first day. He met the other employees (all attractive young men, not that Woohyun specifically noticed that, he had no interest in mating with males after all.)

Apparently the most popular of the waiters was a young man named Kim Myungsoo. Woohyun couldn’t help but notice how stunning Myungsoo was and could easily see why he was the most popular to the customers. But aside from that Myungsoo was really shy and quiet but did strange things like trip over his own feet and Woohyun thought it was adorable.

His first day was almost ending, and it was almost midnight when the door jingled and in walked Sunggyu.

“Sorry we’re closing customer~” Woohyun joked and Sunggyu snorted in return. “Did something happen?” Woohyun gave Sunggyu a once over to check if he was ok.

“What? Yeah…why?” Sunggyu shrugged, hands in his pockets.

“Then…why’re you here?”

Sunggyu gave him a rather surprised expression, that quickly turned bashful in a second.

“I…I don’t know, I thought you probably don’t know the way back to my apartment yet and…” Sunggyu coughed and looked away. “Its kind of late and stuff…”

Woohyun nodded, but his eyes were blinking curiously like he was still trying to connect the dots. “…And?”

“And shut up and finish your work so we can go already.” Sunggyu muttered and scurried to a table near the window and sat down.

Woohyun tilted his head, half confused, half amused, but nonetheless returned to the back room to get the broom. Sunggyu watched him go and shook his head at the outfits they made the waiters wear to make them look exactly like butlers working in an old style British mansion.

Though of course Woohyun looked handsome in the white button up shirt, black tie and grey vest under a sleek, fitting black jacket with tailcoats and fitted black pants.

But Woohyun was good looking in general, Sunggyu figured and once again found himself sighing because how the hell did a penguin turn into a cute, attractive man, and not like the DC supervillain The Penguin. It kind of pissed Sunggyu off. But at the same time not really.

But that bothered him even more, because he couldn’t bring himself to dislike Woohyun no matter how hard he tried. Though, he wondered why he was even trying in the first place. There was nothing wrong with them being friends and liking each other in a friendly way, he thought.

Though there was a little nagging feeling in the back of his mind that just wouldn’t go away.

A feeling that maybe—just maybe things between them weren’t necessarily in _just_ a “friendly manner.”

-

It had been a week since Woohyun started working and he quite liked his job. Though after the first few nights, Sunggyu stopped coming to pick him up in the evenings so they could walk home together which he was kind of disappointed about but never mentioned. He rather liked walking home with Sunggyu after midnight since it was quiet and there was a warm breeze and they could see the stars clearly. And they would tell each other about their days and complain about customers and tell each other funny things that happened at work. Woohyun liked it a lot.

Though there was a different kind of calm feeling about walking home by himself too. It was almost inspiring to him. Like he felt like he could do something amazing or go somewhere amazing just by looking up at the sparkling stars in the sky. It almost gave him a kind of rush and an urge to write it down somewhere. He realized he got these kinds of feelings often, throughout the day, whether he was talking to customers, eating dinner with the other waiters, being with Sunggyu or Dongwoo or even just daydreaming.

So one day he started writing his thoughts down on his hand, though he quickly realized that probably wasn’t the best method because then everyone could see it and whenever he washed his hands or dealt with drinks or anything, his thoughts would get smudged.

One day he sat in the locker room and while he was taking off his pants, noticed another one of the hearts on his thigh had disappeared.

He stared at his thigh for a good moment, as if the heart marking would magically reappear. But it didn’t—and there was only three left. He didn’t even realize when or who made it happen and he was so excited about it and immediately thought to call up Sunggyu and Dongwoo to tell them, when Myungsoo walked in.

“Ah, hyung you’re in here.” Myungsoo immediately hobbled towards him, despite Woohyun standing there with his pants around his ankles, clutching onto his thigh.

“Oh Myungsoo—?” Woohyun attempted to pull his pants back up when Myungsoo handed him something—a notebook.

Myungsoo was giving him an awkward dimple smile. “I noticed you write things on your hand a lot and then it gets messed up so…” It was a small mint green notebook with a little cartoon picture of a puppy holding a bone and a kitten next to it holding a fish on it. Each of the pages were glossy and crisp and had pink lining. There was a set of pens too—in rainbow colors.

“Myungsoo…” Woohyun stared in amazement at the cute stationary. “This…this is so nice, thank you.” He hugged the taller man and could feel Myungsoo’s nose dig into his shoulder softly— another strange but adorable habit Myungsoo had.

“I chose the cutest ones I could find so they would match.” Myungsoo explained.

“Match? With what?” Woohyun blinked.

“With you…?” Myungsoo murmured, and then giggled and scurried away to his locker.

“What’re you talking about?” Woohyun burst into laughter, feeling shy at the sudden cheesiness from Myungsoo of all people.

And then he thought about it—he and Myungsoo were friends and Myungsoo seemed to genuinely like him as a person so the second heart could easily be Myungsoo’s.

He smiled to himself at the thought. He was getting closer to living as a human being and making friends who genuinely liked him along the way. It was almost like things were going too well and Woohyun wanted to believe it could continue like this.

He really wanted to believe that...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Myungsoo and Sungyeol make their appearance and Myungsoo appears to be gay af isn't it great.  
> And yes Woohyun totally got a job just so he could reunite with his one true love: ice cream. Please support their love, its real.


	9. Red Heart

Having a day off was always a great feeling for Sunggyu. It meant sleeping in and not having to deal with annoying customers or people in general. It meant relaxing at home, watching some television, maybe even going out with friends.

It was even better because Woohyun was working all afternoon until the evening so he had his apartment to himself. Woohyun had even told him not to come at all for the rest of the week and he seemed very adamant about it for whatever reason that didn’t really concern Sunggyu much. Unfortunately his plans for a relaxed day off were shortly interrupted by the likes of Dongwoo and Sungyeol who told him they were coming to get him to go to the café Woohyun worked at.

“But why?” Sunggyu whined through the phone to Dongwoo. “He even said don’t come. And its my goddamn day off, let me be—.”

“Ok hyung we’ll meet you outside in five minutes.” He heard Sungyeol chime in before hanging up.

Sometimes Sunggyu hated his life.

Sunggyu dragged his feet the entire way to the café like a stubborn child, though Dongwoo and Sungyeol didn’t seem to notice.

“Why do we have to go to that stupid café.” Sunggyu groaned, secretly upset that his two younger friends weren’t paying attention to his childish behavior. “Its creepy and annoying and I don’t wanna stare at men while getting served an overpriced coffee…”

“Trust me.” Dongwoo hooked his arm with Sunggyu’s. “It’ll be worth missing out on your beauty sleep hyung.”

Sunggyu hissed at him but trudged along anyways, following his two friends into the café, noticing there were quite an even number of men and women today, as compared to previous times he had come. They were immediately greeted by the sight of a rather pretty girl in a maid outfit—a short thigh length black dress with bell sleeves layered under a frilly white apron and black thigh high socks.

For a moment Sunggyu forgot why he was annoyed. He also wondered if they had stepped into the wrong café.

Thinking about the creepy guy who owned the café, made Sunggyu start to wonder if this was some kind of “maid” day and the owner made the male waiters wear maid outfits instead of their usual butler outfits. And then it all made sense why Woohyun didn’t want him to come to the café all week so he wouldn’t be seen in a cute frilly (way too short) dress.

Sunggyu was about to lose his mind. Was Woohyun going to traipse out with one of those dresses too, because he did not want to see that. Not at all.

“ _Oh god…”_ He thought, glancing at the cute little maid girl who had gestured them to their seat. “ _What if that’s a man too? I thought that person was cute but what if it’s a man_?” He massaged his temples, feeling extreme stress surging through his veins, while Dongwoo and Sungyeol cheerfully discussed the menu items.

Sunggyu hated them. How could they be so calm when any moment Woohyun could walk out in a goddamn dress. Sunggyu thought about how thick Woohyun’s thighs were and started to wonder if that would even work with those thigh high socks. This was too much for him. He didn’t want to see Woohyun in a maid outfit. He didn’t. He really, _really_ , didn’t.

“What’re you guys doing here?”

Sunggyu’s heart almost stopped when he heard Woohyun’s voice behind them

He didn’t dare turn around and merely stared at Dongwoo and Sungyeol for their reactions, but of course those completely unhelpful so-called friends gave him absolutely zero reactions and were the epitome of calm and relaxed.

Sunggyu really did hate them.

He wasn’t able to avoid Woohyun for long, when he felt Woohyun’s hand lightly, casually on his shoulder. It was obviously a ‘why aren’t you looking at me hyung’ type of pat. But Sunggyu refused. Things that were seen could not be un-seen, so unless right at that second brain bleach was a real legitimate thing that he was able to use, he would not look at Woohyun.

A part of him wondered why he was, well overreacting to such a level. What was so horribly horrible about seeing a friend in a dress anyways? If anything, he could at least get a laugh out of it. Yes, that would be a normal reaction a man would have to his fellow male friend, Sunggyu thought. However, Sunggyu didn’t think there was much remotely funny when he noticed a male customer not so accidentally drop a napkin on the floor by a cute maid, just to get a peek under her skirt when she kindly bent over to pick it up for him.

“ _Men are animals…”_ Sunggyu shook his head in disgust, as if he were a much better man. At least he wouldn’t have been so blatantly obvious, he told himself. But what if some scummy pervert tried to do that to Woohyun, mistaking him for a cute girl? But no, Sunggyu thought, who would mistake Woohyun for a girl—what with those hairy muscular legs and slightly lean arms…and pretty nose and cute eyes, and small waist and full pink lips—.

Sunggyu gasped in horror, yelling for Woohyun to “take it off” while turning around at lightning speed. Only after making a huge scene that garnered the attention of the entire café did Sunggyu realize he was pointing at a normal, butler outfit adorned Woohyun.

There was a fleck of disappointment spotting Sunggyu’s mind, that he automatically wiped away, as the embarrassment of everyone staring at him like he was a pervert was kind of more of a priority.

“Wow, hyung at least wait until you guys get home…” Sungyeol commented sarcastically, after Sunggyu bowed to everyone and proceeded to bury his face in his hands, sinking into his chair.

-

After Woohyun finished work that evening, he met Sungyeol, Dongwoo and Sunggyu at a nearby restaurant for dinner. Everything seemed nice and normal, except Woohyun couldn’t help but notice Sunggyu staring at him from the corner of his eye more than once throughout the night. He thought it might just be his imagination or something because why would Sunggyu be staring at him. It wasn’t like there was any reason for him to.

However, the moment Sungyeol and Dongwoo went off to get pick up their completed orders from the counter, Sunggyu switched chairs from the seat across from Woohyun to the one next to him.

“…What’re you doing?” Woohyun asked, awkwardly rubbing his neck.

“I just felt like sitting here instead.” Sunggyu shrugged and pointed up at the ceiling vent. “Less of a draft.”

Woohyun had no idea what he was talking about, but quietly nodded and stared at his glass of water.

Woohyun was rather confused as to why Sunggyu had religiously avoided him at the café, but now was continuously staring at him like he had grown an extra head.

Their opposing work hours had made it so they didn’t really get to spend that much time together anymore, and Woohyun was finding it to be somewhat awkward being alone with Sunggyu after such a long time.

“So…” Sunggyu cleared his throat. Woohyun turned to him, expectantly, and Sunggyu unconsciously averted his gaze. “Uh…how’re…things?”

Woohyun smiled softly. “Things?”

“I don’t know…its weird. We see each other every night, but its like I haven’t seen you in years. Not like I’m saying I _miss_ you or anything, but I just realized that we don’t really…see each other as much since we’re both working and—.”

“Hyung,” Woohyun grinned. “You can just admit that you miss me. Don’t be embarrassed.” He expected some sort of sarcastic reply or perhaps an eye-roll. But instead, he felt Sunggyu grab his wrist under the table.

“Fine, I…do, ok?” Sunggyu’s expression was surprisingly serious and Woohyun was kind of completely taken off guard.

“W-Wait…” Woohyun laughed in a soft yet awkward manner. “I was just kidding—.”

“Well I’m not.” Sunggyu frowned. “You know you don’t even cling to me anymore. We haven’t had a proper conversation in days. A-And sometimes you even fall asleep on the couch…I can’t even remember the last time I touched you.” Woohyun’s eyes widened and Sunggyu’s face went red. “I-I mean like…holding hands…or y-you know that kind of stuff you like.”

“But….” Woohyun couldn’t take his eyes off Sunggyu’s fingers still wrapped around his wrist. “I thought…you didn’t like…that kind of stuff.”

“I don’t…mind it” Sunggyu mumbled, retracting his hand from gripping onto Woohyun’s wrist.

Woohyun stared at Sunggyu, attentively, in disbelief over what he was hearing. “R-Really?”

“Why would I?” Sunggyu sighed. “Everything you do is cute anyways, so why would I mind…” When he was met with silence he turned to Woohyun who was staring at his reflection in a spoon. “Yah…are you even listening?”

“Is it really though?” Woohyun made a pouty face in the spoon, studying his puckered lips. Sunggyu made a face and poked the other man’s shoulder.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

“Yeah I heard, but—.”

“Then show some reaction maybe!” Sunggyu hissed, gripping onto Woohyun’s shoulder and lightly pushing him.

Woohyun turned to him, looking somewhat offended for being interrupted, while also being rather amused by Sunggyu’s actions. “To what?”

“Never mind I don’t miss you.” Sunggyu folded his arms. “You suck.”

Woohyun giggled and unraveled Sunggyu’s arms so he could hold Sunggyu’s hand with both of his. “I don’t miss you either.” Sunggyu didn’t even need to look at Woohyun’s face to know how brightly he was smiling and reluctantly smiled to himself and gently nudged Woohyun who’s smile only got bigger, and giggles only got cuter.

-

That evening before bed, Woohyun decided to take a bath. At that point, he had of course, learned how to bathe himself, but he kept thinking about how Sunggyu had said he missed him at dinner. Woohyun pulled off his shirt and looked at himself in the mirror for a moment, tilting his head and ruffling his hair, before getting an idea.

He left the bathroom and peered into Sunggyu’s room to see the older man lying on his bed, looking at his phone.

“Hyung…” Woohyun hobbled inside and knelt down right beside the bed at Sunggyu’s side, resting his hands under his chin.

“What.” Sunggyu hummed without looking away from his phone.

“Remember what you said in the food place…” Woohyun pursed his lips, waiting for Sunggyu to look at him.

“I say a lot of things.”

“That you missed me.”

Sunggyu immediately looked up from his phone with flushed cheeks. “Th-that’s not…” He noticed Woohyun sitting on the floor, with his chin resting on the edge of the bed. “What’re you doing?” Woohyun finally stood up, wearing only his trousers and socks and a somewhat shy smile.

“We can spend time together now.”

Sunggyu looked him up and down. “Aren’t you going for a bath?”

Woohyun nodded. “We can go together.”

Sunggyu wasn’t quite sure he comprehended Woohyun’s words completely, but the other man was already tugging on his arm, pulling him off the bed.

“Wait what? Why would I—!”

“We can talk and spend time together in the bath.” Woohyun explained in a rather innocent manner, that Sunggyu wasn’t sure he believed. “I’ve heard people do that!”

“Like who?!” Sunggyu questioned, as Woohyun dragged him into the bathroom.

“Friends.” Woohyun chuckled. “And I can wash your hair for you.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“Ok then, you can wash my hair then.”

“Oh I see…” Sunggyu snorted. “So it was all just for your own selfish gain then?”

Woohyun fake gasped, then giggled. “You caught me.” He had that rather dumb smile on his face that Sunggyu couldn’t help but return with a smile as Woohyun calmly unbuttoned his pants.

Sunggyu remembered when Woohyun used to be shy, but now he was just shamelessly stripping in front of him and he didn’t know how to feel. But why should he feel anything at all about such things he wondered. Though as Woohyun pulled his pants to his knees, he noticed the marks on Woohyun’s thigh—the first one was still gone, but the second heart that had disappeared days ago was back again and this time, it was red colored.

“Hey…” Sunggyu pointed to it, garnering Woohyun’s attention. “What’s that? Why’s it red?”

“Hm?” Woohyun stretched out his leg and noticed the red marking too. “Wait…this mark was gone a few days ago, why is it back?”

“Does that mean that person doesn’t like you anymore?” Sunggyu scratched the back of his head in confusion. “But then why would it be red…?”

Woohyun met Sunggyu’s eyes with a worried gaze. “I think I need to go see the swamp witch again…”

-

Both Woohyun and Sunggyu didn’t have work the next morning, so they decided that would be when they would see the swamp witch. However, when Sunggyu opened the front door to his apartment, there was a large, thick golden envelope on the ground, labeled, ‘For a stupid little penguin.’

They opened it up to discover it was a manual of sorts that explained everything about the heart markings.

“I’m guessing this is from the swamp witch…?” Sunggyu placed two mugs of coffee on the table as he sat down next to Woohyun. “But how did she know you live here?”

“She’s magical. She probably knows everything.” Woohyun figured as he flipped a page of the glossy manual. “Ah! This says that a heart marking can disappear days after someone falls for them. And it also says it turns red only if the person is in love, but doesn’t confess…”

“Are you fricking serious?” Sunggyu snorted.

“Yeah and if it disappears and never turns red it means the person just genuinely likes you as a person.”

“Ok so…if the first person was me, then the red one is—.”

“Wait, but it says it takes a few days for the heart marking to disappear after the person starts liking me, so maybe the first heart is Dongwoo after all.”

Sunggyu put a hand to his chest, immediately taking offense. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

“I don’t know.” Woohyun smiled apologetically. “I just…feel like its more likely to be Dongwoo—.”

“Fine whatever. I don’t like you anyways.” Sunggyu replied, in a rather snippy tone and got up to pour himself more coffee. “So who’s the one in love with you? Some chick you met at work?”

“Chick?” Woohyun blinked.

“Girl. A girl you met at work.” Sunggyu sighed and sat back down.

“Hm…” Woohyun turned another page with a hopeless look. “Not sure…”

Sunggyu lazily picked up the envelope, only to realize there was something besides the manual inside it. There was a packet of glittery pink powder inside, that Sunggyu suspected might be some sort of illegal drug. Woohyun didn’t share his suspicions however, and discovered a note taped to the packet. It read that the powder was a love test spell that was used to find out who were the owners of the red heart markings—or essentially who was in love with him. All he had to do was mix the powder into water (and it apparently tasted like strawberries), then give it to people who he suspected were the owners of the red hearts.

But at that moment, there was only one red heart, so Woohyun didn’t see the need for using it quite yet, and placed it back in the envelope.

“So what was it?” Sunggyu asked.

“Uh…” Woohyun glanced at the envelope for a moment before shrugging. “Uh…just like a backup antidote in case I want to give up and turn back into a penguin…”

“Really? Why would she give you that?” Sunggyu made a face. “Don’t you dare think about using it.”

Woohyun gave him a small smile, though the moment Sunggyu looked away, he felt his stomach churn uncomfortably.

 


	10. Mouth touching

Woohyun was in a dilemma. Someone was in love with him, and he had no clue who, and it was vital to know who, so that person could confess to him and he could, well, not disappear forever.

Woohyun sighed, leaning his elbows on Sunggyu’s kitchen table and massaging his forehead. He had no idea how he was going to find out, and he still had 3 more hearts left, not including the red one.

But thinking about the fact that someone was in love with him— _with him._ The thought made Woohyun’s heart feel all bouncy and gave him these tickly feelings in his tummy.

Though he hadn’t even really met any women so he wasn’t sure who it could be. It wasn’t as if a man would fall for him—he immediately stood up.

What if it was _a man_?

Woohyun clamped his hands to his cheeks nervously, his heart thumping wildly.

What if a man fell in love with him? Woohyun was always sure he was only interested in mating with a woman. Though, yes he did think a lot about those supposed gay penguins from some other zoo in another country. But that was different. Those were different penguins. They weren’t _him_. He didn’t like males—not in that way at least. He wasn’t even sure males could physically mate with each other, and started to wonder if it _was_ possible.

It was time to turn on Sunggyu’s computer and find out. He typed in a simple, innocent enough question: Can males mate with other males. Unfortunately all that seemed to come up were some articles about people trying to see if their male dogs can mate with each other. There was also something about ducks.

Woohyun did not care about ducks.

He recalled seeing two people—a man and a woman—pressing their mouths together near the bus stop one evening, and wondered what that meant. Was it some sort of romantic gesture? Or was it simply something done between friends, or even strangers?

From his internet browsing, Woohyun discovered it was something called ‘kissing’ and apparently could be done with anyone, though it seemed to be the norm between mates. He also found out that men could indeed ‘kiss’ other men. He found this out through many, many pictures, he accidentally stumbled upon. For some reason he couldn’t stop looking, and becoming more interested, as he happened upon pictures of people (men) kissing other people (also men) and how in some of them they weren’t wearing clothes and in one they seemed to be touching each other’s—.

“ _What is that?”_ Woohyun curiously leaned closer into the screen in an attempt to find out. “ _Wait…”_ His face went red. “ _I-Is that—?”_

“’Morning.” Sunggyu sleepily walked in, making a direct beeline to the coffee maker. Woohyun slammed the laptop shut almost immediately, though his somewhat labored breathing made him seem even more suspicious. Sunggyu turned to him, with an eyebrow raised. “Yes sure go ahead, use my laptop without permission and break it too.”

Woohyun gave him a wide-eyed, pink cheeked stare and dashed out of the room without a word.

Sunggyu tilted his head, scratching his hair in a lazy manner. “What’s his problem…?”

-

Woohyun’s attempts to completely avoided Sunggyu and hurry to work despite it being several hours too early, were easily foiled as Sunggyu grabbed his hand as he was rushing towards the front door.

“Where’re you going?” Sunggyu frowned. “You don’t have work until later, I thought?”

“O-Oh…” Woohyun avoided his gaze and stared at the wall instead. “Yeah…I just…thought I’d go early to—.”

“I thought we could go for ice cream before work?”

Woohyun was doomed. There was no way he could say no to ice cream, and he was starting to suspect Sunggyu knew that and was using it to his advantage. But exactly what advantage would that be? It wasn’t like Sunggyu would be dying to hang out with him. It wasn’t like Sunggyu liked him that much. It wasn’t like Sunggyu was the red heart on his thigh and it wasn’t like Woohyun thought he was or wanted it to be.

No way, not at all.

And Woohyun most definitely did not think about if Sunggyu had ever kissed another man like in one of the pictures he saw on the computer. His face flushed with color, as he touched his lower lip.

Sunggyu probably only touched mouths with women, Woohyun figured. Cute, sexy, beautiful women with long hair and petite frames and slender (hairless) legs and definitely nothing like Woohyun.

“ _Wait…”_ Woohyun pressed his hand to his forehead as if to stop wherever his train of thought was going.

“Hey, what happened?”

Woohyun looked up in a daze to see Sunggyu a few steps ahead on the pier, standing and staring at him. Woohyun shook his head and absently hobbled along to catch up to Sunggyu.

After they got their ice cream and were sitting inside the ice cream parlor by the window, Woohyun noticed a couple walking outside. They were holding hands and they kept leaning into kiss each other on the cheek as they walked.

Woohyun felt this churning in his stomach, and an almost yearning type of feeling. He didn’t quite understand it, but he guessed it was him wanting to be in love too. It looked nice, and they looked happy. Woohyun wanted to be happy like them too. Though he wasn’t particularly unhappy with how his life as a human was going so far. Well of course aside from the whole having to find five people to love him so he wouldn’t disappear forever thing.

But he really did feel like his life was pretty ok. He at least didn’t get laughed at or get flashy things pointed at him anymore (that he learned from Myungsoo were called cameras).

“Hey, you finish work before 11 tonight right?” Sunggyu interrupted him from his thoughts.

“Hm?” Woohyun turned to look at him, but then his eyes directly went to Sunggyu’s mouth and he accidentally almost dropped his ice cream on his lap—luckily it didn’t, however the vanilla cream dripped all over his hand and drops landed on his bare thigh (he was thankful his black shorts weren’t longer)

Sunggyu sighed and muttered something about clumsy birds and grabbed a napkin. Woohyun held out his hand, but Sunggyu didn’t seem to notice and proceeded to wipe the ice cream off Woohyun’s thigh.

“Wait,” Woohyun pushed his hand away worriedly. “I-I can do it myself—.”

“Fine, here.” Sunggyu handed it to him and got another to wipe some ice cream that was on Woohyun’s chin.

“Hyung why are you like this?” Woohyun laughed, but it was in a rather frazzled manner. “I can do it myself…”

Sunggyu shrugged and tossed the napkin on the table. “Anyways, if you’re done before midnight, come to the aquarium after work.”

“What?” Woohyun blinked. “But isn’t it closed at that time?”

“Just come, ok?”

-

Woohyun managed to avoid the other men at work as much as he could, which meant minimal eye contact and short, curt answers. No one seemed to mind much, though Myungsoo seemed more than a little worried.

It was a day that Woohyun was glad he worked somewhere where male customers were a rarity. After the images he had seen that morning, he wasn’t sure he could look at or think about another man the same way ever again. He tried to reason with himself, that there was nothing out of the ordinary about it, and there was nothing wrong with being a little rattled about the whole thing. Though he was starting to wonder if his reaction, or rather overreaction meant something more significant.

He glanced at the grand wood adorned clock on the wall to see that it was half an hour until his shift ended. He thought about what Sunggyu said to him about coming to the aquarium after work, and realized he didn’t actually know how to get there, when the door opened and in walked new customers.

It was a man, and Woohyun was about to make a run for it, but alas he was the only waiter on the floor at that moment, so he couldn’t. He plastered on as natural of a smile as he could and greeted the man—a man with very, very yellow hair. Woohyun wanted to ask him if he had eaten too many lemons or bananas because he had never seen someone with such yellow hair. The man had a bright smile as Woohyun guided him to a seat, and he stared—a lot, too much probably.

“Welcome, how was your day?” Woohyun followed the scripted guidelines the waiters were given.

“Better now.” The man replied in a tone Woohyun couldn’t recognize. It seemed friendly enough, but something about it didn‘t quite read as friendly.

“You know I wouldn’t usually come into places like this…” The man chuckled, his shoulder length yellow hair, moving behind his shoulders. “But to be honest…” He folded his hands on the small round table and smiled up at Woohyun, in an almost disarming way. “I saw you through the window and I was kind of drawn in here…?”

Woohyun’s obligatory giggly reaction to situations that made him uncomfortable or nervous happened against his will. He didn’t want to giggle because he didn’t understand the man’s logic at all. Why would he come in because he saw Woohyun?

Woohyun didn’t think he should ask that but he was very confused, and the man kept staring at him like he was a plate of freshly caught fish ready to be devoured.

“Th-That’s nice.” Woohyun replied as politely as he could. “Would you like some coffee? I’ll get you some coffee.”

As soon as Woohyun entered the kitchen, he felt Myungsoo clutch onto his arm.

“Are you ok hyung?” Myungsoo’s expression was rather serious and not as soft and gentle as it usually was when he was with Woohyun. “You…you’ve been acting strange all day. Did something happen?”

“Hm?” Woohyun awkwardly stared at the floor and gave a sort of awkward half smile. “No, of course not. Don’t worry.” He patted Myungsoo’s hand lightly, a signal for Myungsoo to let him go and he did so, though regrettably. Myungsoo watched Woohyun hobble towards the coffee machine and sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

He hadn’t known Woohyun long, but Woohyun was always kind to him and warm and took care of him and made sure to never let him feel left out. Myungsoo had this protective feeling, that he didn’t want bad things to happen to Woohyun, though he wished Woohyun would feel like talking to him more if there were things bothering him. He wondered if Woohyun had such people in his life. He wondered a lot about Woohyun sometimes.

Woohyun, who was much smaller than him, yet had a rather large presence, though somehow seemed to not be the center of attention.

His hands fiddled with the movie tickets in his pocket, as he bit his lip. He would definitely build up the courage to ask Woohyun tomorrow.

-

The yellow haired man was persistent and stayed for the entire half an hour until Woohyun’s shift ended, asking a few times when Woohyun got off work. Woohyun wanted to think the man was just being friendly, but he honestly just felt annoyed. Sure Woohyun was open to making friends, but the man gave him this strange, slimy feeling that he didn’t feel comfortable with and kind of wanted to avoid.

Woohyun had already changed into his normal clothes—a black t-shirt, denim shorts and white sneakers (all items Sunggyu bought him) when the yellow haired man caught him at the door. Apparently he was finally leaving too.

“So do you have some free time, Woohyun-sshi?” The man asked. He had learned Woohyun’s name from the nametag he wore with his uniform. “I thought we could talk more. I really enjoyed talking with you.”

“Uh…sorry.” Woohyun gave him an apologetic bow and continued walking, though the man followed him. “I’m actually going somewhere to meet up with someone.”

“Oh, who?” The man pressed, right on his heels, following him onto the brightly neon lit street. “A girlfriend?”

“No.” Woohyun laughed somewhat shyly. He couldn’t help that the mention of having a girlfriend (which he learned was like a mate) made him giggle. It was something worth giggling over, he thought. But it totally gave the man the wrong idea unfortunately, and he was walking side-by-side with Woohyun now.

“Is it…” The man leaned closer, a little too close, his arm brushing Woohyun’s. “Is it a boy—.”

Woohyun zoned out when he saw Sunggyu across the street at the other side of the stoplight—one hand in his pocket, the other clicking away on his phone with a bored look.

 _“What’s he doing there…?”_ Woohyun wondered, and stared impatiently at the pedestrian walking sign to light up. He turned to the yellow haired man and gave him a small friendly bow then dashed across the street the minute the walking sign lit up. He slowed down half way however, realizing he appeared way too excited when it wasn’t like he was _that_ excited to see Sunggyu.

It was just _Sunggyu_. He saw him this morning. It wasn’t a big deal.

“What’re you doing here?” Woohyun asked, unconsciously wearing a bright smile as he approached Sunggyu.

Sunggyu looked up from his phone, unaware. “Where’d you come from?”

“The other side of the street.” Woohyun chuckled and inched closer, feeling a familiar, almost comforting warmth overtake him. “I just finished work.”

“Ah…already?” Sunggyu tilted his head, then checked his watch. “I was coming to pick you up. I thought you were gonna finish later…”

“You were coming to see me?” Woohyun absently leaned into Sunggyu’s arm as they started walking.

“No.” Sunggyu nudged him with a reluctant smile. “It’s because you don’t know how to get to the aquarium right? You’d probably get lost and end up getting beat up by gangsters or something.”

“What’re gangsters?” Woohyun smiled, somewhat blissfully.

A part of Sunggyu had to wonder why Woohyun seemed so cheerful, but the other half was just sort of relieved, after Woohyun’s rather strange behavior that morning.

On the way to the aquarium, Sunggyu asked if anything happened at work, so Woohyun told him about the yellow haired man. Sunggyu didn’t find it as humorous as him, however and seemed strangely annoyed.

“Did you tell anyone he fricking followed you?” Sunggyu frowned. “That’s creepy as hell.”

“I…” Woohyun rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “He was just being friendly I think. I mean yeah I guess it was weird but—.”

“Weird? _Weird?_ ” Sunggyu shook his head in distaste. He knew Woohyun working in that shady café was going to backfire somehow. “Listen,” He grabbed Woohyun’s arm as they walked. “If that creep comes back, tell your manager.”

“Mmhm…” Woohyun hummed, paying more attention to a passing sign for some idol group advertising colorful ice cream at the window of a café.

Sunggyu sighed to himself, making a mental note to stop by the café more often from now on.

-

The streets became quiet the closer they got to the closed aquarium. Woohyun still had no idea why they were there and Sunggyu refused to tell him anything. It was dark in a narrow alley as Sunggyu jammed a key into the lock on the back door to the building. Woohyun hesitantly followed him inside where it was even more dark—pitch black. Woohyun instinctively reached out for Sunggyu’s hand, but only managed to grasp to the back of his shirt.

Sunggyu pushed open one of the metallic double doors leading to a dark hallway lit up by the bright blue dome shape of the tank overhead.

Woohyun had only ever seen the tanks from the inside, so it was a much different feeling having the tanks over his head and all around him. At first it struck him as amazingly beautiful, and so very blue and vibrant. He turned to Sunggyu only to realize Sunggyu was smiling at him.

“I thought maybe you’d like to come back…do you remember what it was like?”

Woohyun stared at his white sneakers and then at Sunggyu’s black ones. “It…looking from the outside like this is beautiful but…” He looked up at the fish swimming above him. “Its not…its suffocating,” He bit his lip. “Being trapped in those tanks without a choice with people pointing at you, laughing at you…it,” Woohyun’s gaze fell again, as he absently clutched to the folds of his shirt covering his chest. “It—It hurts.”

Sunggyu suddenly realized the whole thing was a bad idea, and Woohyun was basically two seconds away from crying.

“ _Oh crap…”_ He quickly patted Woohyun’s back. “Uh…d-don’t be sad.” He winced at how stupid that sounded. “I…y-you know that the reason they bring these fish here is to help them?” He blurted out. “I mean yes its people’s fault to begin with for polluting the oceans and everything but they bring them here to nurse them back to health or if the species is at risk or—oh crap you’re crying.”

“I-I’m not.” Woohyun rubbed his eyes and turned his head the other way as if pretending to be looking somewhere. Sunggyu shifted his hand from Woohyun’s arm to his shoulder, pulling him in a bit and patting his other arm. That did little to help unfortunately because Woohyun kind of just wilted, head lowered, probably more tears spilling that Sunggyu couldn’t see because of the blue lighting in the dark room.

“Hey um…” Sunggyu attempted to change the subject to distract Woohyun from being sad. “So what was up with you this morning. You were acting really weird.”

“Hm?” Woohyun looked up, with droopy, wet eyes. “Oh,” He sniffled. “That…was nothing.” He looked away again and Sunggyu mentally cursed.

“ _Goddamnit I keep saying all the wrong things!”_

Sunggyu didn’t understand what exactly he was supposed to do to make things better. Woohyun confused him too much.

“Um,” He tried again, when Woohyun suddenly looked up.

“Do you…” Woohyun’s saddened expression began turning into one of sheer curiosity, though his cheeks and nose were still slightly red from crying. “Have you…” Woohyun bit his lip. “Like…kissed people before?” He asked the question so quietly Sunggyu wasn’t sure he even heard him properly.

“…What.”

“I mean…” Woohyun pressed his hands together to gesture to what he meant. “You know…the mouth touching thing?”

“What.”

“You know what I mean.” Woohyun sighed and nudged Sunggyu lightly.

Even if Sunggyu did understand Woohyun before, he definitely wouldn’t have understood him after such a random question.

“Why.” Sunggyu blinked. “You want to kiss someone?” Then he gasped and nudged Woohyun back a little too roughly. “Yah, did you kiss someone? Did someone kiss you? Was it that creepy yellow haired guy you mentioned?”

“No!” Woohyun chuckled. “It’s not and I haven’t I was just…wondering.”

“That’s a weird thing to wonder about.” Sunggyu shrugged. “Why would you care if I kissed someone anyways. What does that have to do with you—?”

“I don’t.” Woohyun felt his cheeks redden. “I was just asking because…”

“Because?”

“Because!”

Woohyun suddenly felt like digging a hole and jumping inside and never coming out. He didn’t even know why he bothered asking Sunggyu. And Sunggyu was right, it wasn’t like Sunggyu kissing someone had anything to do with him. Woohyun knew that. He knew that well. But he couldn’t help but wonder. Though whether it was more about if Sunggyu kissed someone or what it would be like to kiss Sunggyu, he wasn’t sure.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ice creams better watch out they suddenly got a lot of dudes to compete with for woohyun's love


	11. movie date

Woohyun slept on the couch that night and Sunggyu didn’t really care to ask why Woohyun decided to do that because sleep was more important.

Woohyun didn’t really get much rest however, and ended up tossing and turning the whole night on the lumpy sofa. The sun had just begun to rise when he finally gave up and headed for Sunggyu’s bedroom.

Sunggyu was naturally still asleep. But for some reason Woohyun felt like his stomach was doing flips as he approached the bed. He hesitantly tugged at his tshirt before hastily turning around, away from the bed and gulping.

“ _What_ …” He pressed his palm over his chest, his heart throbbing. “ _What’s wrong with me_ …?”

Woohyun didn’t understand why his heart and his stomach were suddenly a mess when all he did was walk into Sunggyu’s bedroom and see Sunggyu’s sleeping face (which really wasn’t attractive with his mouth hanging open and one arm hanging off the edge of the bed).

So what if Woohyun wanted to know what it was like to do the mouth touching thing with Sunggyu. It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean he wanted to mate with Sunggyu and it certainly didn’t mean he was in love with him. It was purely out of curiosity, he convinced himself.

(Though his sudden very real urge to want to cuddle up next to Sunggyu was something else entirely that he chose not to concern himself with the meaning of.)

-

Sunggyu’s alarm blaring the next morning woke Woohyun up, resulting in a oh so successful two hours of sleep for him. He sleepily sat up and rubbed his eyes, while Sunggyu—with face buried into pillow—somehow knew exactly where to reach to grab his alarm clock and throw it to the floor, instantly sending the room into silence again. Woohyun smiled in amusement and began to get up when he felt Sunggyu’s fingers wrap around his forearm.

“Did you even sleep?” Sunggyu’s voice was hoarse and sleepy, one side of his face pressed into his pillow.

“I did…” Woohyun rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand as he glanced at the cracked alarm clock on the floor. “A little bit…”

Sunggyu didn’t say anything and his eyes were closed and Woohyun was ready to assume he had drifted off to sleep again. However, Woohyun could still feel Sunggyu’s grasp on his arm, and the moment he tried to remove the other man’s hand, Sunggyu woke up again.

“Sleep more.” Sunggyu groaned and tugged on Woohyun’s arm. “You have work in the evening…”

“Yeah but,” Woohyun awkwardly looked to the door then back at Sunggyu again. “I thought I’d make food—.”

“I’ll do it later.” Sunggyu told him and once again pulled on Woohyun’s arm.

“Really?” Woohyun settled back into bed, facing Sunggyu, who’s eyes were closed again. Woohyun poked Sunggyu’s chest, earning him a grunting sound which he assumed was a ‘yes.’

-

“Why are you here?” Sunggyu sighed, as he wiped down a table at the aquarium café. Woohyun was sitting at a nearby table, enjoying a plate of fish sticks that he had no intention of paying for.

“Because,” Woohyun smiled as he picked up another fish stick. “I only have work in the evening.”

“So go home and rest.” Sunggyu groaned.

“Why do you keep telling me to sleep and rest?” Woohyun frowned.

“Because you literally slept for like 2 hours!”

Woohyun didn’t say anything for a moment and sipped some soda. “But how can I rest when you barely see me and clearly miss me so much you can barely continue living?”

Sunggyu snorted loudly and grabbed a fish stick off Woohyun’s plate. “I’m going in the back room now and when I come back out, you better not be here.” He warned and hobbled off.

“Ok, I’ll be right here waiting!” Woohyun joked, and waved cutely, though Sunggyu wasn’t looking.

Sunggyu stood in the doorway for a moment, grumbled something to himself and turned around, approaching Woohyun’s table again. “At least go sit in the back.”

“But you can’t see me if I’m in the back.” Woohyun chuckled as Sunggyu grabbed his arm and pulled him up out of his chair. Woohyun let Sunggyu drag him into the backroom with a grin on his face. He missed spending time with Sunggyu at the café and watching him work and teasing Sunggyu.  After sitting Woohyun down at the table in the breakroom, Sunggyu sat down beside him and looked at him for a moment, until Woohyun let out an awkwardly shy laugh.

“Uh…shouldn’t you—?”

“So did you ever find out who the red heart marking belongs to?” Sunggyu suddenly asked. Woohyun stared at him for a moment before looking away and nodding.

“Not yet…”

“Any more heart markings disappear?”

“…No?” Woohyun blinked. “Why’re you suddenly—?”

“I was thinking that you should get a girlfriend.” Sunggyu announced, like it was something he had decided on already.

 “What?” Woohyun folded his arms, suddenly feeling a weird sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Well I mean think about it. Its not like you can really get people to fall in love with you if they don’t really have a chance to get to know you right? So if you start dating I’m sure a bunch of girls will fall in love with you pretty easily.” Woohyun smiled uncomfortably and rubbed his forearm.

“Y-Yeah I guess that makes sense, but—.”

“But what?”

“Just…” Woohyun felt his cheeks flush. “How am I supposed to do that…I’ve never actually…”

Sunggyu watched Woohyun squirm around shyly for a moment, and tried his best to resist the urge to reach out and squeeze him.

“Trust me…” Sunggyu looked away, awkwardly covering his slightly reddened face with one hand. “Girls will like you…”

-

Woohyun mulled over Sunggyu’s suggestion during his break later that evening at work. He was sitting on an upside down bucket in a corner of the kitchen nibbling on a plate of leftover fries the cook gave to him. Woohyun often hung around the kitchen during his break times and developed a sort of friendship with the chef—a friendly old man with white hair and a matching snowy white mustache. Thanks to that friendship Woohyun never had to spend a break without a snack.

Sure, a girlfriend sounded like a nice idea, and it would certainly help get rid of at least one of the heart markings. But how exactly was one supposed to go about getting a mate, Woohyun wondered.  He noticed Myungsoo enter the kitchen and look around until he met Woohyun’s eyes. Woohyun smiled and waved and Myungsoo looked positively animated and hobbled over.

Woohyun greeted Myungsoo and pulled up a bucket for the other man to sit.

Myungsoo was popular with females and they seemed to like him quite a bit. In fact, he was by far the most popular waiter at the café, and women stopped by just to see him and be served by him.

Myungsoo was the answer, Woohyun realized.  Myungsoo could give him actual legitimate advice on how to win the hearts of women. It was a perfect idea, really.

But Woohyun felt like it would be sort of bad if he just took without giving anything in return and began to think up ideas of possible foods he could make to give Myungsoo in exchange for advice.

“Um so…” Myungsoo suddenly piped up after chewing a fry he had snagged from Woohyun’s plate. “D-Do you have anything going on this weekend?”

“Weekend?” Woohyun blinked. “Uhh…”

Woohyun wasn’t quite sure what a weekend was and looked around the kitchen in hopes that the answer would somehow present itself.

“O-On Saturday?” Myungsoo continued, seeing as Woohyun wasn’t speaking. “If you do…”

“Ah!” Woohyun clasped his hands together then nodded. “I don’t think so.” But then he remembered Sunggyu’s suggestion about finding a girlfriend and scratched the back of his head. “Ah actually—.”

“L-Lets go to the movies then!” Myungsoo blurted out and shoved a movie ticket in Woohyun’s face. He immediately gasped, face flushed and apologized. “I-I mean if you have nothing else that is…”

Woohyun didn’t really know what “the movies” were but Myungsoo seemed rather excited and he figured it would be the perfect chance for them to talk more and maybe Woohyun could get some advice about girls.

“Sure.” Woohyun grinned.

He made a mental note to ask Sunggyu what going to the movies meant later.

-

“Who the hell is Myungsoo?”

Woohyun sat down beside Sunggyu on the sofa after dinner as Sunggyu flipped through the television channels. Woohyun had pestered Sunggyu with many questions about going to the movies and Sunggyu, out of the goodness of his heart, offered to take Woohyun to the movies since he seemed so fascinated.  But then Woohyun casually rejected him, informing him that Myungsoo had invited him.

“You know~” Woohyun chuckled. “My friend from work…the super good looking guy.”

“Oh.” Sunggyu frowned as he paused on some music variety show where a man in glasses was belting a high note. 

He felt somewhat disappointed. He had been there for a lot of Woohyun’s “firsts” so far—eating at a restaurant, trying alcohol, going shopping, eating ice cream, getting a job, etc. He knew it was somewhat childish but he felt left out about not being able to be the one to take Woohyun to the movies for the first time.

“Well…have fun I guess.” Sunggyu muttered as he folded his arms after deciding on some singing show.

Woohyun stared at him silently for a moment, whilst tilting his head. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”

It was almost as if an invisible bullseye had stabbed Sunggyu right in the gut at that moment. He coughed loudly and turned to Woohyun with an almost offended look.

“Of who? Of _what_?”

“Do you want to come with us—?”

“I don’t need your pity!” Sunggyu hissed. “I have my own friends and my own life. What makes you think I want to hang around you 24/7!”

“Ok.” Woohyun shrugged. “Just thought I’d ask—.”

“W-Well…” Sunggyu suddenly cut in, with a sheepish look. “Just curious, what movie were you going to see? N-Not that I want to come, but…”

-

Myungsoo paced in front of the movie theater anxiously, rehearsing in his mind what he should say for when Woohyun arrived. He nervously pulled at the sleeve of his black t-shirt, debating between snacks and which ones Woohyun would like best. However as soon as he saw Woohyun cheerfully waving and approaching him, looking extra cute in a striped shirt, black jeans and sneakers, he completely forgot everything he was planning to say. It didn’t help matters when he saw Woohyun’s sullen roommate trailing behind him. Myungsoo didn’t know much about Sunggyu aside from his name and that he seemed to be perpetually annoyed or at least anytime he was in the flower boys café.

“Hey, how are you.” Woohyun greeted and held onto Myungsoo’s hand in a supposed to be handshake, except that Woohyun kind of forgot to let go. His hand was small and kind of cold and it made Myungsoo smile. “You know Sunggyu hyung right?” Woohyun asked and gestured to the man beside him who had his hands in his pockets. “Is it ok if he joins us, he just can’t be without me for too long, it’s a real problem, I know.” Woohyun sighed dramatically, earning him a hard nudge from Sunggyu.

“Oh, um…sure.” Myungsoo nodded politely. Of course he kind of thought it was just going to be him and Woohyun, as most dates he'd been on, usually consisted of just two people, but Sunggyu was giving him kind of a scary look so there was no way Myungsoo could say any of that.

But then Sunggyu reached out and shook his hand and he _smiled_. Myungsoo was officially confused.

“He’s a liar.” Sunggyu smiled at Myungsoo. “I just…really wanted to see this movie, yeah that’s it.”

“Oh really?” Woohyun leaned on Sunggyu’s shoulder, teasingly. “Then what movie are we going to watch?”

“The…the one with the uh…peaches…?” Sunggyu stuttered, and when Woohyun’s grin only got wider, Sunggyu (lightly) shoved him away.  “Whatever, shut up.”

-

As soon as they entered the theater, Woohyun and Myungsoo spotted one of their coworkers, Jinyoung, who promptly approached them and greeted them. They were in the midst of chatting about their schedules when Woohyun noticed Sunggyu awkwardly standing to the side.  He smiled and slung an arm around Sunggyu’s shoulder. Sunggyu turned to him and he really didn’t want to smile back because why the hell should he, but Woohyun’s smile was infectious— _Woohyun_ was infectious, he was like a leech except cuter and more affectionate. Sunggyu was starting to circle back to his ‘Woohyun lied about being a penguin and was actually a puppy’ theory.

Sunggyu was pretty sure he’d never understand Woohyun.

“Should we get the snacks you told me about?” Woohyun piped up.  “Ummm cornpop and s&ms?”

Jinyoung and Myungsoo raised their eyebrows while Sunggyu almost choked on his own spit. “H-He means M&M’s! And popcorn! He’s just really stupid and forgetful!” Sunggyu proceeded to start yanking Woohyun towards the snack counter. “Don’t mind him!” 

Woohyun frowned as they reached the snack counter. “But hyung…I really thought it was—.”

“Shh!” Sunggyu clamped a hand over Woohyun’s mouth. “Don’t say that ok? Don’t ever say that ever ok?”

Woohyun pulled Sunggyu’s hand away and blinked cluelessly. “So…are we getting cornpop or not?”

-

Woohyun happily sat between Myungsoo and Sunggyu, munching on popcorn as the movie began.  He’d never had such a delicious, buttery treat before and he almost felt like he was cheating on ice cream. But then the lights starting dimming and he panicked and clutched onto Sunggyu’s arm.

“Hyung, what’s happening?” He whispered hoarsely.

“The movie’s starting.” Sunggyu patted his arm nonchalantly.

Woohyun, however, remained skeptical as his eyes darted here and there, cautiously, one hand unconsciously clutching to Sunggyu’s arm. Sunggyu didn’t seem to notice or mind much for that matter until about halfway through the movie he looked over and realized Woohyun’s other hand was holding Myungsoo’s. Sunggyu suddenly felt this uncomfortable sinking in his chest.

Their fingers were intertwined.

 He quickly looked back at the screen the moment Woohyun turned to him.

-

Sunggyu stood by a tree and watched Woohyun and Myungsoo smile at each other and converse by the entrance way of the movie theater. The movie had ended and the sun had already set, bathing the sky in a deep sapphire blue.

He shouldn’t have come.

The thought kept nagging at him, lingering in his mind. It was like he had interrupted something. But how could it be something? They were both men. _Woohyun_ was a man...who used to be a penguin, but he was still _a man_.

“Ready to go?” Woohyun touching his arm, brought him out of his thoughts. He looked at Woohyun, then behind him for Myungsoo, but Woohyun was alone.

“…Where?” Sunggyu dumbly asked, earning a chuckle and a pat on the back from Woohyun.

“Where else?” Woohyun grinned. “Home.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi sorry for disappearing for a while then coming back with the cliche of all cliches in this chapter lol.  
> Also when will Sunggyu chill. Probably never.  
> Thanks if you're still reading :'( <3


	12. Slumber party

It was about a week later on a normal evening and Sunggyu had just come home for work. He found Woohyun in the living room, folding a t-shirt and placing it in his backpack.

“Ah, you’re home hyung.” Woohyun greeted.

“What’re you doing?” Sunggyu tilted his head. “Why do you have your backpack out?”

“Well,” Woohyun drummed his fingers on his bag for a moment. “Myungsoo invited me to stay at his house tonight. So I thought I’d pack stuff now and bring it with me to work, then go straight from there with him to his place after our shifts end.”

Sunggyu completely ignored everything Woohyun said after ‘Myungsoo invited me to stay at his house tonight.’

“What.” Sunggyu uttered.

“Isn’t that nice hyung, you’ll get a day without me bothering you.” Woohyun said with a smile, though he was looking down kind of sadly. Since Sunggyu didn’t appear to be saying anything, Woohyun lifted his backpack as he stood up. “I made some food, you can just reheat it—.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Sunggyu suddenly said.

Woohyun’s smile faltered. “…Huh?”

“You…You only have a few months left, you’re running out of time you know?” Sunggyu blurted out. “You still have to get a bunch of people to fall in love with you, so you don’t disappear, but I guess who the hell cares about that when _Myungsoo_ invited you for a goddamn sleepover!”

Woohyun stared at Sunggyu, silently, for a moment. “What…what’re you—?”

“Don’t you care about disappearing?! You really need to get your priorities straight and stop fooling around you dumbass!”

Woohyun suddenly pulled his bag over his shoulder and turned around.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Sunggyu snapped.

“Away from you!” Woohyun replied, just as snippily.

“Well fine, go then!” Sunggyu yelled as Woohyun pulled his shoes on at the entrance way. “What the hell do I care if you goddamn disappear from the fricking planet!”

Those were the last words he got out before Woohyun slammed the door shut.

-

Sunggyu was a grumpy mess at work and even screwed up a few orders.

Sunggyu _never_ screwed up orders.

He sat down for lunch outside the aquarium café by the pier with Dongwoo.

“So, whats up?” Dongwoo asked, while munching on some chicken.

Sunggyu gave him a long, dazed stare. “How’d you know?”

Dongwoo chuckled. “Hyung, I’ve known you for years, I always know when you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset.” Sunggyu frowned, and stared off the pier towards the ocean. The sunlight reflected prettily on the ripples of the ocean waves and it somehow reminded him of the shimmery ripples that appeared on Woohyun’s head when the sunshine lit his hair.

“Goddamnit…” He muttered and rubbed his face in his hands. He was in too deep, and he probably realized it way too late.

-

Woohyun didn’t meet with the chef that evening at work and instead took his break in the street-lit back alley behind the café.  He wasn’t in much of a mood to socialize, though he still tried his best to put on a smile for customers and his coworkers.

He held his hand out from under the awning to feel rain drops fall on his palm.

_“Ah…”_ He thought. “ _It’s not coming from my eyes this time…”_

He smiled sadly as his gaze fell, following the rain drops flooding in a puddle on the concrete.

It hurt, his chest hurt. His insides hurt and he wasn’t sure why exactly. He didn’t understand Sunggyu’s sudden fit of anger. It wasn’t like Woohyun wasn’t trying, but it wasn’t exactly so simple to just make people fall in love in with him. Love was a complicated thing with humans.  There was all these steps and procedures that Woohyun hadn’t quite gotten a handle on.  He kept circling back to that morning over and over again in his head, trying to figure out why exactly Sunggyu had gotten so angry. It seemed so random and out of nowhere.

“ _It was…right after I said I was going to Myungsoo’s house…_ ” Woohyun recalled. It made him think about how Sunggyu basically whined and complained to be able to come to the movies with him and Myungsoo.  “ _Could it be…?”_ Woohyun wondered, and then the realization came crashing down, causing him to kneel down from the sheer weight of it. “ _”He…He’s lonely!”_ Woohyun gasped, covering his mouth with his hand, completely shaken. His mind went back to his penguin days, watching Sunggyu clean up trash from the aquarium floor as visitors brushed past him like he was nonexistent.  “ _But…how can it be…he’s so cool—well ok actually he’s not that cool at all but, but…”_ Woohyun realized he always had this sort of way he viewed Sunggyu when he watched him in the aquarium. He seemed so…so dazziling.  But that wasn’t Sunggyu, or atleast the Sunggyu he’d come to know since becoming human.

“Woohyun are you out here—?”

Woohyun looked up from his crouched down position leaning against the building, to see Sunggyu in the doorway.

Sunggyu immediately gasped, seeing Woohyun basically kneeled down on the floor outside in the pouring rain. And he was pretty sure he saw Woohyun’s eye twinkle, like a single teardrop had just fell from his face.

“ _Oh my god he was so upset I yelled at him, he’s lying on the ground, crying in the rain!”_ Sunggyu looked away in horror, wondering if he was actually a horrible monster for making such a fragile person cry and turn into such a miserable state.

Sunggyu couldn’t take the frustration of being in a fight with Woohyun any longer and had stopped by the flower boy café after work to make up with him. The chef had told Sunggyu that Woohyun was outside, but this wasn’t what Sunggyu was expecting to find.

Woohyun looked up at Sunggyu for a moment, before hobbling to a standing position, though he almost slipped on the wet cement and Sunggyu instinctively reached for his arm to stop his fall. Though Woohyun instantly attempted to pull away, Sunggyu somehow didn’t seem to notice and suddenly pulled Woohyun into what could be described as a bone-crushing hug.

It was safe to say Woohyun was a little more than surprised at Sunggyu’s actions, especially considering how angry he seemed before.

“ _Is he really this lonely that he’s willing to let everything go like this…_ ”  Woohyun wondered, feeling his heart hurt at the thought. It didn’t feel nice to think that Sunggyu was lonely, and Woohyun decided to make him feel like he always had someone to lean on.  Because from experience, he knew what loneliness felt like and he never wanted others to have to experience it. Though, at the same time Sunggyu’s hug contained a little too much squeezing and squishing than Woohyun would’ve liked, so he ended up kind of just standing there, while Sunggyu hugged the living daylights out of him.

“Ah…” Sunggyu seemed to realize Woohyun wasn’t hugging him back and let go, though his hands were on Woohyun’s shoulders and then moved to his cheeks. “Woohyun-ah…”

Woohyun stared at him, feeling a strange dip in his stomach the moment he met Sunggyu’s earnest gaze.

“I’m sorry.” Sunggyu frowned. “Everything I said before…I was wrong to get angry like that. I just…I guess I was scared?” Sunggyu _pouted_ as he basically squished Woohyun’s cheeks as if they were made of dough. “I just…didn’t want to …lose you or anything, you know?”

Woohyun held onto Sunggyu’s wrists to stop the cheek squishing and sighed softly.

“I…I get it. I wish it were easier to make people like me, but…” Woohyun looked down, rubbing the back of his neck shyly. “I guess I need to work harder…”

Sunggyu nodded with a rather affectionate smile that Woohyun didn’t understand since he was kind of talking in a very serious manner.

“ _Not just his soul, but even his cheeks are sensitive and soft…”_ Sunggyu thought, whilst gazing at the pink marks left on Woohyun’s cheeks from where he had pinched them. “ _Goddamnit, he’s so cute…”_

“Um…” Woohyun pursed his lips. “What’re you staring at—?”

“Huh?” Sunggyu instantly wiped the smile off his lips and nodded his head. “Oh…uh nothing, just your…face.”

Woohyun blinked, letting out a kind of embarrassed snort like laugh. “What…why?”

“What.”

“ _Why_?”

“Why what?”

Woohyun sighed. “Never mind…anyways I have to get back to work so—.”

“Ah, right.” Sunggyu nodded quickly and patted Woohyun’s shoulder. “Yes, go. I’ll wait up at home and—.”

“What’re you saying hyung? I’m going to Myungsoo’s house tonight.” Woohyun chuckled. Sunggyu’s mood turned sour in an instant.

“Oh…right.” He grumbled and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Woohyun, of course, noticed his grumpy mood and slung an arm around his shoulder.

“Don’t be sad, I’ll come home tomorrow morning, ok—?”

“Who said I’m sad!”

-

Myungsoo’s apartment was significantly different than Sunggyu’s, though it was about the same size. The furniture was modern and stylish, and the best part of it all, unlike Sunggyu’s, was that the entire apartment was actually clean.

“What’s this?” Woohyun gasped, spotting some kind of carpet colored cylinder tower with colorful feathers and bells hanging off it.

“Ah, that’s for my cat.” Myungsoo explained.

“Your what?” Woohyun smiled dumbly for a moment, until a grey feline appeared seemingly out of nowhere and clambered up the carpeted tower, startling Woohyun enough for him to clutch onto Myungsoo’s arm.

Myungsoo seemed unaffected though, and grinned. “Don’t worry, she’s harmless, unless you hate cuddles.”

-

Woohyun thought staying over at Myungsoo’s house was going to be fun and upbeat like all the pictures of slumber parties he searched for on the internet via Sunggyu’s computer. With pillow fights, putting nail polish on each other (Woohyun didn’t really know what nail polish was but it looked sparkly and pretty), and telling each other fun stories and playing fun games. (After Sunggyu checked his computer and found “men kissing” in his search history he made sure to put on the safe search because he really didn’t want Woohyun looking at male genitals or whatever else the strange former penguin looked up with _his_ computer.)

Instead, Myungsoo’s house turned into a game of survival—Woohyun vs. Byeol, Myungsoo’s cat. Woohyun didn’t trust the furry feline—well rather than not trusting the cat, it was more that he was scared of Byeol. He’d never encountered a cat in his penguin life and was unsure of what to expect. He remembered hearing someone mention that cats like to eat birds and the thought made him nervous that he might be Byeol’s for dinner.

Myungsoo was setting the table in the kitchen, when he noticed Woohyun was nervously peering at him from behind the doorway. Myungsoo smiled at him.

“You can come in if you want?”

“Th-That’s ok…” Woohyun mumbled, eyeing Byeol who was rubbing against Myungsoo’s legs. He figured it’d be smart to wait until Byeol was fed before proceeding, however Myungsoo didn’t appear to have any plans to feed the cat and started serving the people food for...well, the people.

“M-Myungsoo…” Woohyun whined. His stomach was grumbling and he couldn’t wait any longer. “Doesn’t…doesn’t he look hungry?” He pointed at Byeol, who was busy licking his privates right in the middle of the kitchen. It was almost like he was mocking Woohyun.

“No, he already ate.” Myungsoo grinned and sat down, staring at Woohyun expectantly. “Come, sit down. Let’s eat.”

“O-Oh…ok.” Woohyun nodded with a forced smile, yet refused to move from his safe place behind the door.

Myungsoo didn’t pressure him however and sat down, watching him expectantly, yet patiently. For a moment, Woohyun wasn’t sure if Myungsoo had fallen asleep with his eyes open or not because he was so still, he was barely blinking. Byeol finally got bored of self-grooming and made his way to his perch at the window.

Woohyun decided it was finally safe to go in the kitchen and tentatively looked both ways for a moment.

“Just come in already!” Myungsoo finally exploded, his voice even cracking like it was a caged animal finally being released after years of captivity. Woohyun laughed sheepishly and scurried inside, quickly taking his seat across from Myungsoo at the kitchen table. Myungsoo sighed in relief and Woohyun couldn’t help but smile apologetically.

“S-Sorry about that.”

-

They decided to go out for ice cream after dinner since Myungsoo didn’t have any at home and he knew how much Woohyun loved ice cream.

Unfortunately, the ice cream shop closest to Myungsoo’s apartment didn’t have cookies & cream or mango flavored ice cream.

That was fine.

Woohyun would survive.

Maybe…

“There’s lots of other flavors to try.” Myungsoo suggested. “Sometimes it’s good to try something new. Who knows, you might even like it better?”

Woohyun studied the taller man’s somewhat meaningful expression, wondering if he was referring to something _other_ than ice cream.

-

Even though Myungsoo had set up a sleeping space for Woohyun on his sofa, he didn’t seem to mind when Woohyun cuddled up beside him in his bed.

“It was cold out there…is it ok?” Woohyun murmured.

Myungsoo rolled over and smiled at him. “Of course.”

Woohyun sighed in relief.

Myungsoo was so patient and sweet and nice. Myungsoo was nothing like Sunggyu.

Woohyun missed Sunggyu.

He shook his head. That was totally _not_ the right reaction. He should’ve been happier with a nicer, sweeter friend.

Sure Sunggyu was a little rough around the edges but he always took care of him. He looked out for him and whenever he smiled it was like—.

Woohyun blinked his eyes open, staring up at the ceiling.

“ _Why am I defending him now? Why am I even thinking about him…?”_ He rolled over onto his stomach and sighed into his pillow.

The next morning Woohyun woke up with Byeol sleeping on his chest. At first he felt something warm and heavy vibrating on top of him and panicked that he might be having some sort of human illness. But then he realized the fluffy truth.

Myungsoo had already woken up and was smiling at them from the doorway.

“It looks like he likes you.” Myungsoo said as he approached the bed and petted Byeol’s head as the kitty purred in his sleep. Woohyun blinked away the sleepiness in his eyes to stare at the fluff ball on his stomach. Byeol was a bit heavy, but he was warm and his purring felt soothing. Woohyun found himself smiling at his new feline friend.

“He’s not the only one.” Myungsoo mumbled as he watched his cat and his crush in his bed being super adorable together.

“Hm?” Woohyun turned to him. “Did you say something?”

“N-Nothing.” Myungsoo coughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so far the options for who Woohyun's going to end up with are:  
> Sunggyu  
> Myungsoo  
> Ice cream  
> popcorn ("cornpop")  
> Byeol (btw is byeol a boy or girl i didn't remember so i just made him a boy in this story lol)  
> Vote for your faves guys!  
> (im jk but also why is everyone rooting for myungsoo im crying but ok he's a sweet squishy mochi heck even i'm rooting for him)


	13. Blanket & Pillow

Woohyun was somewhat anxious as he entered in the lock code for Sunggyu’s apartment and opened the door. The thought crossed his mind that maybe Sunggyu forgot about him or perhaps realized how much better his life was before he met Woohyun. The apartment was quiet when he entered and removed his sneakers by the door. He cautiously entered to see the living room and kitchen were empty. He looked around in a daze.

Where was Sunggyu, he wondered. It was Sunday, so Woohyun knew he didn’t have work and it was almost noon, though knowing Sunggyu, sleeping past noon was quite the norm.

Woohyun scurried down the hall, dropping his backpack somewhere along the way and pushed open the door to Sunggyu’s bedroom. There was no one there but there were some cardboard boxes stacked in a corner.

Woohyun’s heart was throbbing now. He started to wonder if it was possible for Sunggyu to have moved out and left him. But Sunggyu wouldn’t do that. But then…where was he?

Woohyun’s throat felt dry as he swallowed. “Hyung…” He murmured, staring blankly out the window of Sunggyu’s bedroom.

And just like clockwork he heard the front door opening and almost slipped, skidding down the hallway. He got to the entrance way just in time to see Sunggyu with his back turned, taking off his shoes. Woohyun debated whether to run up to him and hug him or run up to him and close Sunggyu’s eyes from behind in a teasing way. He decided on neither, figuring both seemed way too cheesy and not to mention embarrassing as ever. 

“Hyung…you’re home.”

Sunggyu almost fell down from being startled and turned around, clutching his chest.

“Yah, don’t scare me like that. I thought you’d be back later.”

Woohyun couldn’t help the smile coloring his face. “I said I’d be back by morning, didn’t I? The bigger question is why are _you_ out so early?”

Sunggyu grinned in amusement. “Hey, I wake up early sometimes too…”

They awkwardly stood there, smiling at each other, a couple of feet apart. 

“S-So…” Woohyun cleared his throat. “What’re those boxes in our bedroom?”

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow. “Since when was it _our_ bedroom?”

Woohyun giggled, mostly out of embarrassment. “Since we both sleep there together of course, hyung.”

Sunggyu shook his head, though he was still smiling fondly. “Anyways those boxes are...uh well actually…you know that time we went to the movies with your friend and you kind of mentioned something about going home, and then I kind of thought about something. Like…ah, this is your home too, so you should have some of your own things too…so I thought I’d pack some of my stuff up to make room for yours, but then when I went to the store afterwards…” He hastily picked up the plastic bag he had dropped by his shoes and pulled out a set of matching face towels with penguins embroidered on them. “To like, try to find stuff for you…” He awkwardly waved the towel around. “But then I thought, wait you should choose your own things since all I found were these stupid towels anyways…”

“Cute.” Woohyun smiled.

“What?” Sunggyu blinked as Woohyun took one of the towels from him.

“The towels.” Woohyun chuckled and ran his finger along the blue penguin embroidery. “They’re cute, hyung.”

 Woohyun was smiling so appreciatively and fondly at the stupid penguin towels that Sunggyu almost felt guilty for not finding something better.

-

“So, did you even miss me or were you just so busy having fun with Myungsoo…” Sunggyu mumbled as he flipped through the television channels. They had just finished lunch and were relaxing on the sofa, before going out to look for home goods for Woohyun.

Woohyun smiled at Sunggyu beside him on the couch and scooted closer, leaning his head on Sunggyu’s shoulder. Then he raised his head and turned to Sunggyu.

“No.”

Woohyun burst into giggles, and Sunggyu hated how infectious Woohyun’s smile was as he lightly shoved the other boy away.

“Well I didn’t even remember you existed so—.”

“Hyung…did you cry?” Woohyun’s expression was suddenly serious.

Sunggyu blinked. “What?”

“Last night…because you missed me so much.” Woohyun burst into giggles again, as Sunggyu shoved him in annoyance.

“But you know…” Woohyun leaned back on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. “Its not the same…sleeping when you’re not there.” Woohyun turned to smile sheepishly at Sunggyu. “I guess, I just got used to it.” Woohyun suddenly felt his face get warm, as he looked down and laughed softly, shyly. “Ah…” He murmured. “What am I saying—?”

Suddenly he felt himself being tackled onto the sofa, until his cheek was pressed into the sofa cushion. Sunggyu had basically flopped on top of him like a beached whale and Woohyun was kind of clueless as to why, especially since Sunggyu was kind of heavier than him and he never gave any indication that he was in need of a human quilt.

“Hyung…” Woohyun whimpered, feeling Sunggyu’s nose nudge the side of his neck. “Why are you lying on me…”

“Because,” Sunggyu mumbled in Woohyun’s reddening ear. “You’re like a blanket…soft and warm.”

Woohyun didn’t quite hear properly and the only words he could decipher from Sunggyu’s whispery tone were ‘burden,’ ‘sap,’ and ‘worm.’

“ _Is he…calling me a burden?”_ Woohyun’s cheeks burned hot with embarrassment. He immediately regretted expressing that he missed sleeping beside Sunggyu. It probably made him sound way too clingy and—.

“I missed you too.” Sunggyu murmured into the crook of Woohyun’s neck—his voice leaving a vibration on Woohyun’s skin.

Woohyun was officially confused. And overwhelmed. And even more confused. Sunggyu was hugging him then calling him a burden, then saying he missed him?

Woohyun made a whimpery noise and groaned. “Why are you saying I’m a burden then saying you miss me? Do you enjoy burdens in your life?” He mumbled.

“What?” Sunggyu sat up, though he was still hovering over Woohyun like a UFO over a field of wheat. “Where the hell did you get that from? I never said you were a burden?”

“Yes you did!” Woohyun argued, now on his back, leaning on his elbows for support. “You _just_ did!”

“When?” Sunggyu yelled back. “I never did!”

Woohyun’s lower lip trembled. “Y-You said I was a-a burden and something about a sap and being a worm whatever that means…”

“Ok I have no clue what you’re talking about.” Sunggyu sighed, folding his arms. He thought about it for a moment and then it hit him. “Wait—.” He choked on his own laugh. “I didn’t say you were a burden I said you were like a blanket.”

Woohyun’s eyes dropped, in confusion. “W-What?”

“Yeah, and it wasn’t sap and worm, I said you were…” Sunggyu cleared his throat, suddenly feeling embarrassed by his previous words.

“Said…what?” Woohyun was giving him these worried puppy eyes and Sunggyu was weak—too weak. But it was far too embarrassing to just blurt it out right in front of Woohyun’s face, looking into his eyes. So he leaned forward, maybe a bit too close, as his lip grazed the shell of Woohyun’s ear.

“You’re like a blanket because you’re soft and warm and…I missed my blanket, ok?”

Woohyun’s face went hot again, but for a whole other reason this time.

“W-What?” He meant to laugh coolly, but instead his voice came out as a trembling half chuckle. “W-What’re you talking about hyung?” He couldn’t help the shy giggles escaping his throat and he hoped it distracted somewhat from how red his face probably was. “Y-You’re being weird.”

Sunggyu noticed Woohyun’s cheeks were flushed pink and it was way too adorable. No, it was unfair, that’s what it was. Because Sunggyu did not have an interest in biting human faces, but Woohyun’s cheeks were like cotton candy puffs and Sunggyu hadn’t eaten lunch.

“ _I’m officially losing my mind.”_ Sunggyu realized. And resorting to cannibalism was the final step of his journey to…well losing his mind.

“Hyung…” Woohyun murmured. He was playing with the folds of his t-shirt, shyly. “If I’m your blanket…c-can you be my pillow?”

Sunggyu officially accepted losing his mind in that moment and Woohyun wasn’t sure he survived being tackled onto the couch a second time. 

-

Woohyun and Sunggyu decided to split the bedroom in half and came back from the store with bags full of decorative items for Woohyun’s side of the room.

Woohyun was fully concentrated on arranging some decorative pillows in a little corner of his side of the room as Sunggyu watched while lying on the bed. He was completely tired out from the shopping venture. Shopping with Woohyun was tiring because he just _had_ to look through every single store in the vicinity and for some reason they ended up buying new clothes for Woohyun too as well as a cell phone.

Though Sunggyu figured the cell phone would be handy to have in case they had to contact each other.

“Hey…” Sunggyu absently stretched his arm out across the bed, watching Woohyun pat his jumbo sized ice cream shaped pillow in satisfaction. “Do you like what you got?”

“Hm?” Woohyun turned to him and smiled. “Of course!”

He looked so content it made Sunggyu feel this warm and squishy feeling inside that he didn’t want to put a name to, though it was definitely a familiar one.

Sunggyu turned over, facing away from Woohyun. He closed his eyes and smiled softly. “Good.”

-

Sunggyu wasn’t quite sure why he couldn’t sleep that night and kept tossing and turning. He rolled over to Woohyun’s side to see the other man had his back turned and he was wearing a sleeveless top. Sunggyu blinked, trying to remember if he noticed Woohyun wearing that when they went to sleep. Because now with a little glimmer of moonlight peeking through the curtains and pouring over Woohyun’s frame, highlighting and shading the etches of his body—Sunggyu definitely noticed.

Sunggyu couldn’t help but stare at Woohyun’s bare shoulder. Why was Woohyn wearing a sleeveless top when it was cold? Sunggyu wondered if Woohyun was feeling cold and well his arm just looked kind of muscly yet somewhat bony so he reached out and poked it. Woohyun made a grunting sound, and Sunggyu took that as his queue to scoot closer.

“Woohyun-ah…” He whispered and patted Woohyun’s bare shoulder. Woohyun’s skin was actually kind of soft and it took Sunggyu off guard. Woohyun grunted again and Sunggyu leaned into his ear, assuming Woohyun couldn’t hear him. “Woohyun-ah, aren’t you cold?”

Woohyun groaned and rolled onto his back, squinting his tired eyes as he tried to find Sunggyu in the darkness. “…What?” He whined. “I’m sleeping hyung…”

Sunggyu patted Woohyun’s arm and smiled at the younger man’s sleepy, rather pouty expression. “Sorry…” He chuckled softly. “Its just…since when did you have that shirt?”

“What?” Woohyun asked, still in a whiny, tired manner. “What’re you talking about?”

“The shirt.” Sunggyu repeated. “Since when do you sleep in a sleeveless shirt?”

Woohyun tilted his head in Sunggyu’s direction, giving him his best ‘are you kidding me’ stare. Though since his eyes were barely open and his lips were puffed out it looked more sad and cute than anything else.

“So like…” Sunggyu didn’t seem to care that it was three in the morning and Woohyun was tired as he lazily ran his fingers along the crease of Woohyun’s inner elbow. “Did you wear this when you stayed with Myungsoo—?”

“Can you just sleep hyung?” Woohyun whined and practically head butted Sunggyu, as he pushed his forehead to Sunggyu’s chest. “You’re always tired, but suddenly you’re so chatty…” Woohyun mumbled mostly to himself, into the fabric of Sunggyu’s t-shirt.

Sunggyu smiled helplessly and stroked the back of Woohyun’s head. “Sorry…ok sleep.”

“…I didn’t.”

“Hm?” Sunggyu blinked.

“I wore a t-shirt at Myungsoo’s house.” Woohyun mumbled, clutching lightly onto the folds of Sunggyu’s shirt in hopes that the older man wouldn’t see his slightly flushed cheeks.

Sunggyu didn’t even realize Woohyun was embarrassed, or that he himself was smiling rather stupidly. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was sort of a filler chapter I guess? But in some ways it wasn't. Idk. (Plus I just like writing cuddly useless fluff scenes so...)   
> Anyways I hope you liked it ehehe. <3


	14. Unexplained Feelings

Sunggyu was having the sleep of his life—maybe even the best sleep ever, but then some annoying nudging at his shoulder and an incessant “hyung, hyung” stirred him awake.

“Hyung, wake up.” Woohyun was hovering over him, the morning sunshine glittering through the blinds behind him.

Sunggyu groaned and rolled over, away from Woohyun. “Why…”

“Because you have to get up so you can get ready and eat breakfast.” Woohyun replied.

“Why…?” Sunggyu practically whined, refusing to move an inch.

“So you can go to work.” Woohyun chuckled, somehow finding amusement in Sunggyu’s grumpiness.

“Why.”

“So you can get money to buy me things.”

Sunggyu instantly sat up with the single intention of shoving Woohyun off the bed, but tired himself out just by sitting up and quickly gave up on his plan. He lay back down in hopes of returning to dream land when he felt Woohyun climb on top of him and by the time he managed to open his eyes, Woohyun was licking his cheek.

They sat frozen in silence for a moment.

“Woohyun…” Sunggyu began, lying on his side like a sad, confused seal. “Why…?”

“I thought,” Woohyun pursed his lips, not sure of exactly how embarrassing what he did just was. “I-I mean I saw this video where this dog wakes up his owner by licking the owner’s face so I thought…”

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu continued in his deathly calm tone, position unchanged. “Are you a dog?”

Woohyun folded his hands in his lap and looked down. “N-No…”

Sunggyu suddenly sat up again, this time he was wide awake. “So why the hell would you think that was a good idea!”

-

Woohyun somehow convinced or rather forced Sunggyu to take a bath together with him because saving water was important to preserve the environment and the polar ice caps were melting and that was his homeland and such, and so on. Sunggyu probably would’ve paid more attention if it wasn’t so early in the morning. He found himself being dragged into the bathroom and rather casually complied and pulled off his sweatshirt. But then he noticed Woohyun was kind of just standing there in his black jersey shorts and grey t-shirt and not making any moves to take off his clothes.

“Yah,” Sunggyu sighed. “I thought you wanted to shower?”

“Hm?” Woohyun looked up, somewhat startled and awkwardly chuckled. “Uh…y-yeah, just a second…”

Sunggyu was not one for patient understanding and grabbed the shower hose, calmly spraying Woohyun enough to soak his clothes.

“Hyung!” Woohyun yelped and eventually broke into laughter as he attempted to shield his body from the incoming water with just his arms. “Ok, ok I get it!” He sighed and pulled his drenched t-shirt and shorts off his wet skin, tossing them to the floor. But Sunggyu wasn’t done with his water attack and kept pointing the hose at Woohyun, causing the younger man, clad in only his red and black briefs, to scurry for cover in a fit of giggles. He ended up in the corner of the bathroom, hopping up on the washing machine, and Sunggyu had abandoned the hose somewhere along the way.

“Ok, ok.” Woohyun sat atop the washing machine, holding his hands up in surrender, his bare legs hanging off the edge. “I give up hyung.” He was laughing in that cute gaspy way that sounded like he was hiccupping but cuter.

Sunggyu wasn’t really sure what he was doing at that point or why exactly he had cornered Woohyun, planting his hands on either side of Woohyun’s thighs on the top of the washing machine. At that point, Sunggyu wasn’t really thinking much at all anymore, especially with the incessant urge to grasp onto Woohyun’s muscly, thick thighs. And Woohyun’s lips—they were way too pink, way too juicy, way too bitable. Sunggyu was completely clueless to the uncharacteristic, rather carnivorous look he was giving Woohyun. But Woohyun—having to live as a flightless bird for years had become accustomed to sensing when danger was near. And at that moment, danger was way, way too close in front of him, trapping him, eying him like he was dinner.

His heart was throbbing, he was pretty sure it was from fear, but it didn’t register as fear in his brain, or his body for that matter. Instead he felt this unexplainable heat pooling in his stomach, between his thighs, as he gulped.

It was weird, it was unfamiliar. Woohyun needed to escape. He bit his lip, nervously, unaware that his cheeks were rather flushed.

“Uh…h-hyung…”

Sunggyu was positively mesmerized by Woohyun’s mouth. Was it always that…inviting, he wondered.

“I…” Woohyun absently licked his lower lip and Sunggyu was pretty sure he was going to lose his mind. “I-I’m wet.”

Sunggyu almost choked on his saliva, his face burning red. “W-What?”

Woohyun blinked at him cluelessly, unaware of why Sunggyu was reacting in such a dramatic way to a simple statement. “Uh…because you sprayed me…just now?” Woohyun mumbled. “And I’m all wet and it’s kinda cold?”

Sunggyu suddenly felt a hundred times more embarrassed.

“…Ah.” He cleared his throat and backed away, turning away from Woohyun. “R-Right.”

Woohyun rubbed the back of his head in confusion and hopped off the washing machine.

“So, the bath—.”

“Y-You go first I have to…” Sunggyu coughed, refusing to turn and face Woohyun. “G-Go to the bathroom!”

“…This is the bathroom?”

“Th-The other bathroom!” Sunggyu stammered and rushed out.

Woohyun stared at the door where Sunggyu had just left. “But hyung…this is the only bathroom.”

-

Sunggyu was rather distracted at work later that morning at the aquarium gift shop, and haphazardly tossed dolphin plush toys onto a shelf. Dongwoo watched him in amusement, before joining in. However, when Dongwoo started throwing walrus and whale plush toys into the mix, Sunggyu finally snapped out of his daze.

“What’re you doing?” Sunggyu sighed.

Dongwoo stared back at him, then chuckled. “What’re _you_ doing hyung?”

Sunggyu looked to the mass of assorted stuffed animals on the shelf, then back at Dongwoo with a sheepish smile. “I don’t know…I guess I’m a bit…distracted.”

Dongwoo watched Sunggyu pulling plushies off the shelf with a small, somewhat knowing smile. “So,” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Speaking of Woohyunnie…”

Sunggyu turned to glare at him rather defensively. “Wh-Who was speaking of him? No one was! _I_ definitely wasn’t!”

Dongwoo ignored Sunggyu’s noisy complaints and pulled the taller man to his side. “Sungyeol found out that apparently the café Woohyun works at has an Instagram.” He showed Sunggyu his phone. “And it looks like they’re doing some kind of special ‘dream man from a drama day.’”

Sunggyu made a face. “What the hell is that.” He peered over Dongwoo’s shoulder as they browsed through the pictures on the flower boy café’s Instagram.

“I guess the waiters dress up similarly to characters you see in romantic dramas?” Dongwoo explained. “Like handsome young CEOs or whatever.” He chuckled. “Isn’t it funny?”

Sunggyu gave him a blank look. “What’s funny about that?”

“Woohyun’s going to be one of these guys.” Dongwoo grinned. “Although for some reason, I can kind of see it? He is pretty good looking and—.”

Sunggyu stopped paying attention to Dongwoo after the mention of Woohyun’s name. And what came after in his mind was a swirl of that morning’s events, the creepy pervert at the café staring up a maid’s skirt, Woohyun telling him about some blonde guy that was basically heavily flirting with him, and this feeling his couldn’t put a name to. But he felt impatient, anxious and kind of really annoyed. At who? He wasn’t sure. But all he knew was that he was definitely stopping by the café that evening.

-

After Sunggyu’s shift ended that afternoon, he immediately jumped into his car and drove to the café Woohyun worked at—just in time for the start of Woohyun’s shift. However as soon as he parked, he noticed the line out the door to the café—filled with young women and teenage girls. Sunggyu weaved his way through the queue and entered the warm café, to spot Myungsoo, in a rather cuddly white knit sweater and faded blue ripped jeans with white sneakers.

For a moment, Sunggyu wondered who’s fantasy Myungsoo was supposed to be, dressed in such average clothes, but seeing the table of girls gazing at him like he was a dream come true answered his questions.

He looked around just in time to see Woohyun waltz in from the backroom, looking completely different to Myungsoo. He had on a fitted pinstripe suit, with the blazer left unbuttoned and the white shirt he was wearing underneath had the top two buttons undone. Sunggyu had never seen Woohyun with his black hair gelled back and his forehead exposed and for some reason had the urge to poke the other man’s forehead.

“Hyung?” Sunggyu caught Woohyun’s eye, being the only person in the café in a sloppy oversized black sweatshirt and jeans. Woohyun hurried up to him, his black shiny dress shoes, clacking as he moved. “What’re you doing here?” He looked somewhat taken aback like he didn’t want Sunggyu to be there.

“I came to support you at work, aren’t you happy?” Sunggyu snorted, as he rather shamelessly gave Woohyun another once over. “Wow, never knew my little penguin could be this handsome, I’m shocked.”

It was Woohyun’s turn to snort, as he lightly shoved Sunggyu. “Stop it hyung. You have to go, ok? The place is packed tonight, I can’t entertain you—.”

“ _Entertain me?”_ Sunggyu repeated, rather loudly. “Excuse you, I just came for something nice to eat, how dare you turn away a willing and paying customer?”

Woohyun groaned and looked around worriedly. “Ok, ok. Just…” He found a seat in the corner by a potted plant. “Just sit here and don’t make too much noise ok?”

Sunggyu pouted rather childishly as Woohyun left him in the corner to go serve other customers. “Why the hell is he treating _me_ like a child…?” He quickly shook off his annoyance, when he spotted some men sitting at the table behind him. “ _Why’s there dudes here_?” Sunggyu snorted. “ _What enjoyment would they get from this_?”

Sunggyu watched Woohyun walk over to a table in his view and chat up some ladies who were teasing him like they were old friends. Sunggyu guessed they were older from how casual they were being with Woohyun. A part of him felt proud, when he remembered how nervous Woohyun used to be to chat with women, and just people in general before. He smiled to himself. _“He’s doing well…”_ He thought.

The customers Woohyun was talking with were regulars, who always enjoyed chatting with and spoiling Woohyun with compliments and expensive orders. “So Woohyun-ah,” One of the ladies, leaned forward with a mischievous smirk. “Who’s that guy?”

“Guy?” Woohyun blinked.

“The one in the black sweater, the sexy one.” The lady grinned.

“Oh…I live with him.” Woohyun waved her off casually. “I don’t know why he came today when its so busy—.”

“That’s so cute.” The other woman giggled. Woohyun just shrugged because he didn’t really see how living with Sunggyu was in any way cute with how he never washes the dishes and leaves his dirty socks lying around, until they get swept under the couch and then complains in the mornings when he doesn’t have clean matching socks and blames Woohyun for it.

“Anyways, why’re you talking about some other guy when I’m right here.” Woohyun sulked, causing both the women to chuckle.

“Ok, ok sorry Woohyunnie. But seriously, is he single? He’s totally my type.”

Woohyun gave her a bland look. “Noona, you have bad taste in men…”

-

Sunggyu found it amusing how Woohyun trudged over to his table with a pout that didn’t match his outfit or hairstyle at all. “Why are you still here?”

Sunggyu’s smile immediately turned upside down. “Yah, that’s rude! Aren’t you even gonna give me a menu? Jesus the service here sucks—.”

Wohyun groaned and tossed a menu on Sunggyu’s table. “You know those ladies over there…I told them I live with you and they said you were sexy and one of them said you’re her type…”

Sunggyu almost choked on an embarrassed laugh. “Wh-What?”

Woohyun side-eyed him. “Stop stealing my customers hyung…”

“I didn’t steal them, calm down.” Sunggyu grinned and tugged on Woohyun’s black tie. “…You know what you should tell them?”

“What?” Woohyun was still being the epitome of sulky and pouty, as Sunggyu pulled on his tie, so he was at a height level that Sunggyu could whisper into his ear, while sitting down.

“You should tell them that…” Sunggyu’s voice was hushed, breathy against Woohyun’s ear. “I think their waiter is sexy.”

Woohyun burst into giggles and playfully shoved Sunggyu. “Shut up!”

“What?” Sunggyu laughed with him, feeling embarrassment but also way too giddy for some reason. “It’s true, it’s true.” He poked Woohyun’s side in amusement, earning more hiccup-like giggles from the other man. Woohyun was laughing with his eyes squeezed shut and it was probably one of the purest things Sunggyu had ever seen. He found himself reaching out and pulling Woohyun into a headlock, which was really mostly just an excuse to squeeze Woohyun.

They were interrupted when Woohyun’s boss had to come in and take Woohyun aside into the backroom to lecture him on the issue of flirting and being overly friendly with customers of any gender.

And once again Sunggyu was left alone at his small table, with only a potted plant to keep him company amongst tables full of young women and girls. But then he heard the two men he noticed before, discussing about the waiters. One of them said he couldn’t believe how handsome Myungsoo was, and he didn’t even care if they’re both guys, he would 100% date him. The other guy laughed and then they turned their attention to talking about Woohyun. They were talking about how he seemed really handsome and cool, but was actually a cute and warm person. They really didn’t say anything suspicious or dirty, but Sunggyu felt himself getting pissed off and somewhat protective. How dare those two losers talk about Woohyun as if they knew him, Sunggyu thought. Sure they were saying nice, pretty genuine sounding things, but it was still annoying to Sunggyu and he didn’t really understand why.

When Woohyun returned, Myungsoo was following behind him like a lost dog.

“What was that about?” Sunggyu touched Woohyun’s arm, as the other man was passing by his table.

“Oh its nothing…the boss is weird.” Woohyun shrugged. “Anyways, why are you still here hyung….are you even gonna order anything or—?”

“Of course I am!” Sunggyu argued. His eyes shifted to Myungsoo, who was standing behind Woohyun, with a blank expression.

“Ok, what do you want then?” Woohyun sighed, sticking his hand in the pocket of his pinstripe pants, looking more like a tiny impatient gangster, than a waiter.

Sunggyu looked at the menu for a moment, then up at Woohyun, then back at the menu. “Come here.” He told Woohyun, pulling on his arm, as he chucked the menu away. Woohyun obediently moved closer, not suspecting anything, until he was close enough for Sunggyu to grab onto his tie. “How about you…” Sunggyu lightly yanked at Woohyun’s tie, drawing him closer so that their noses were almost touching. “Recommend me something?”

Woohyun blinked once, twice, before a grin found its way on his face. “I’ll recommend the most expensive item on the menu.”

Sunggyu immediately let go of Woohyun’s tie and stood up. “On second thought, I just ate. See you at home.”

Woohyun burst out laughing, and Sunggyu purposely ignored him and started tucking in his chair.

“Ok, bye.” Sunggyu suddenly pulled him into a hug, earning some stares from the other customers, as well as the two men on the next table over. Sunggyu felt some kind of odd satisfaction over this, and even gave Woohyun’s butt two pats for good measure. “See you at home.” And then Sunggyu walked out, rather casually, as if he was taking a relaxing Sunday stroll.

Woohyun watched Sunggyu leave, with a slight smile, absently rubbing his forearm. “ _What’s up with him…he’s so weird sometimes…”_

Meanwhile Myungsoo was kind of sort of watching the whole thing and stared at his shoes for a moment, before glancing at Woohyun’s side profile—the somewhat shy and bashful smile, the glittering eyes, that reflected both confusion and an excited spark that Myungsoo never noticed before.

“Hey…” He put his hand on Woohyun’s shoulder, snapping Woohyun out of his somewhat dreamy daze. “Are you ok?”

“Hm?” Woohyun smiled at him, like he was still happily thinking about something else— _someone_ else. “Yeah of course, I am. Are you?”

Myungsoo nodded as Woohyun smiled at him, patted his arm and walked off.

-

When Woohyun got home, Sunggyu was lying on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, with the television airing a rerun of a popular drama. Woohyun smiled to himself and quietly crept into the living room, only to realize Sunggyu wasn’t sleeping like he thought.

“Oh?” Sunggyu raised his head. “You’re home.”

Woohyun flopped down on top of Sunggyu and buried his nose into the blanket. “Ahhh so warm. It’s cold outside hyung.” He whined a bit until Sunggyu raised his arm and draped the blanket over both of them.

“How was the rest of work? Must’ve been boring after your best customer left.” Sunggyu joked, earning a snort from Woohyun.

They sat like that for a moment, lazily watching television, as Woohyun pressed his cheek to Sunggyu’s chest with a relieved sigh.

“Hyung smells nice.” He murmured.

“What?” Sunggyu chuckled, his fingers absently running through Woohyun’s soft hair. “Why’re you saying that suddenly?”

“I don’t know...it’s just,” Woohyun closed his eyes, peacefully. “It’s nice. It feels like home.”

He felt a rumble in Sunggyu’s upper chest which was probably Sunggyu scoffing, but Woohyun didn’t care. He knew Sunggyu was smiling either way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That awkward moment where Sunggyu is way too confused about Woohyun to realize he's already married to him.
> 
> Also thanks everyone for your comments and kudos and patience with my slow updates <3


	15. Old & New Friends

It was a Saturday evening and Sunggyu and Woohyun were walking across the pier to meet up with Dongwoo and Sungyeol for dinner. Woohyun’s hand accidentally brushed Sunggyu’s as they were walking and Sunggyu almost gasped.

“What the hell…your hand is so cold!” Sunggyu turned to him as Woohyun absently rubbed his hands together.

“Its not my fault human bodies get cold so easily...” Woohyun muttered and attempted to breathe warmth onto his cold fingers.

Sunggyu sighed and took Woohyun’s hand, intertwining their fingers, before pulling his and Woohyun’s hand into the pocket of his black jacket. The inside of Sunggyu’s pocket was warm, and Woohyun bit his lip, as his mouth was forming a small smile.

“Hyung is warm.” He hummed, in a somewhat shy manner as he leaned against Sunggyu a bit.

Sunggyu couldn’t help but smile himself, as he let Woohyun slightly lean against him as they walked. “Well isn’t that good since Woohyunie is cold.”

Woohyun chuckled and nudged Sunggyu and Sunggyu nudged him back.

“Yah, why’re you acting all weird?” Sunggyu teased, leaning closer to Woohyun’s face. “Your ears are all red, dummy.”

Sunggyu’s breath felt warm against Woohyun’s skin and Woohyun didn’t really want to like it but he did and found himself giggling. “Stop~” He attempted to pull his hand out of Sunggyu’s jacket pocket, but Sunggyu clutched onto his wrist, stopping him. At some point they had stopped walking as Sunggyu reached out his other hand to touch Woohyun’s cheek.

“Your nose is red too…”

Woohyun’s gaze unconsciously fell to his feet because looking into Sunggyu’s eyes felt somewhat embarrassing. They were still holding hands and Woohyun’s cheek felt warm under Sunggyu’s palm. Woohyun felt like he should probably back away or atleast let go of Sunggyu’s hand but he didn’t want to—he didn’t know why but he liked it too much. The way Sunggyu’s thumb stroked his cheekbone, or the safe feeling of Sunggyu’s hand holding his own.

Suddenly Sunggyu removed his hand from Woohyun’s cheek and let go of his hand and draped his arms around Woohyun’s shoulders and sighed. His chin resting on Woohyun’s shoulder, close enough so that Woohyun could feel Sunggyu breathing on his skin.

“It’s too cold.” Sunggyu complained, blithely.

Woohyun awkwardly stood there, kind of just trying to register what exactly Sunggyu was doing.

“You…” He found himself smiling. “That’s what I said before hyung.”

“I know. I’m agreeing with you.” Sunggyu sighed softly, his tone was almost gentle and somewhat affectionate. “Or maybe you’re the one who made me cold.”

Woohyun chuckled and shifted to the side, causing Sunggyu to adjust his posture, though he didn’t do much moving and still clung to Woohyun, only now leaning on him from behind instead of in front.

“C’mon hyung, we should go.” Woohyun started walking, with Sunggyu still hanging onto him like a leech. “Sungyeol and Dongwoo are waiting.”

Sunggyu groaned rather childishly. “Do we have to? Its cold we should just go back home and watch tv and cuddle. That sounds like a better—”

Woohyun immediately stopped in his tracks, and swiftly turned around to face Sunggyu.

“C-Cuddling?” He practically whispered, as if he were discussing a sacred activity. “Well,” He rather eagerly started walking the other way. “If that’s what you _really_ want hyung then I can’t deny such a request.”

Sunggyu watched Woohyun returning the way they came for a few moments before calling out to him. “Yah, Woohyun-ah, I was kidding!”

Woohyun stopped skipping and turned around, disappointment coloring his eyes. “Huh?”

Sunggyu gestured him over with an amused smile. “Wow, I thought I could only bribe you with ice cream, but cuddling works too? Interesting…”

“I-Its not that.” Woohyun mumbled, as he approached Sunggyu with a somewhat sulky expression. “I just thought because its cold and…and you wanted to, so…”

“Hm?” Sunggyu leaned closer in an attempt to hear Woohyun better. “So you would do it just because I wanted to?”

Woohyun met his eyes and could no longer keep his pout and broke into a giggly smile. “If hyung wants to…” He clutched onto Sunggyu’s hand and shyly swung their arms back and forth.

Sunggyu was two seconds away from tackling Woohyun onto the ground and squishing the life out of him for being illegal amounts of cute when his phone rang and saved the last shreds of his dignity.

It was Sungyeol complaining that Sunggyu and Woohyun had been essentially circling around the front of the restaurant for a good twenty minutes and he and Dongwoo could see them through the window and their flirting was getting annoying.

-

Sungyeol was telling the others about how he can’t bring girls over to his house because his younger brother always barges into his bedroom, while Woohyun discovered the cheesy wonderment that was pizza. Dongwoo interjected, upon realizing something.

“Ah, Woohyun…” Dongwoo paused to take a glug of his beer. “Speaking of living situations, you know you could come stay at my place? We have extra futons and my bedroom can fit two.” He offered. “Besides I’m sure sleeping on Sunggyu hyung’s lumpy sofa every night isn’t very comfy.”

Woohyun paused, awkwardly exchanging eye contact with Sunggyu.

“Uh—.”

“Right!” Sunggyu interrupted. “Because Woohyun sleeps on the sofa…in the living room.” He nudged Woohyun’s knee under the table, indicating that Woohyun should nod along.

“Yeah except that one time~” Dongwoo teased. “When you actually let Woohyunie sleep in your bed.”

“He did?” Sungyeol almost choked on his pizza.

“Right? Even I was surprised.” Dongwoo chuckled. “Like he always makes us sleep on the floor or on that lumpy sofa when we stay over.”

Sungyeol nodded. “I still have lower back problems because of that couch I swear.”

“Yah, its not that bad.” Sunggyu hissed and attempted to throw a napkin at the other two with limited success.

-

After hearing what Dongwoo and Sungyeol said the other night, Woohyun was starting to think that maybe Sunggyu treated him in a special sort of way and was cheerful that morning and even decided to wake up early and make breakfast.

However Sunggyu already had some sort of plans that involved him dressed up before nine in the morning. Woohyun was in the midst of frying an egg when he noticed Sunggyu walking in with a distracted expression.

“Morning hyung, you’re up early.” He smiled in amusement. “I was making breakfast.” He had one of those expressions that made it obvious he was anticipating loads of praise.

Sunggyu poured himself some coffee and gave Woohyun a soft half-smile. “Good for you.” He patted Woohyun’s shoulder as he passed him to sit down at the kitchen table.

Woohyun kind of expected more, but he had the whole day to squeeze out more compliments from Sunggyu since neither of them had work that day.

“So, I was thinking…” Woohyun leaned his hands on the table, right by Sunggyu. “That today we could—.”

Sunggyu reached out and patted Woohyun’s cheek. “Sorry I have to go somewhere this morning…but tonight we can—.”

“Where?” Woohyun frowned. “Take me with you.”

Sunggyu chuckled. “Why don’t you hang out with Myungsoo today, hm?”

Woohyun turned around in a state of disbelief. It was finally happening—Sunggyu was throwing him away like an old used rag. He saw this in a tv show he was watching the other day, where a guy stopped spending time with his friend the moment he got a girlfriend.

Woohyun gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. That was it—Sunggyu had attained a mate and that’s why he was abandoning Woohyun now. Woohyun supposed it had to happen eventually, he just never thought it would come so suddenly. He leaned against the fridge, in a defeated state, until he heard a snicker behind him.

He turned around to see Sunggyu smiling at him.

“Yah, you don’t have to look so sad…I mean, we spend most of our time with each other, it’ll be good to do stuff with other people right?”

Woohyun looked at Sunggyu like he had just spoken the most despicable words in any human language.

“I get it…” Woohyun’s shoulders slumped as he flopped down on the chair opposite to Sunggyu at the small kitchen table. “I’ll start looking for creeks to build a shelter under and if I’m lucky maybe I’ll find an old sock to wear on my head in the dumpster—.”

Sunggyu disregarded Woohyun’s over dramatic, nonsensical statements, to check a text on his phone. He hastily got to his feet, with an excitable expression. “Ok, I gotta go.” He looked away from his phone to see Woohyun’s face planted sadly onto the table. He smiled to himself and ruffled Woohyun’s hair. “Yah, its just a few hours ok? Tonight we’ll do whatever you want—.”

“Dinner and a walk in the park!” Woohyun suddenly sat up, more bubbly than ever.

Sunggyu didn’t even know why he was surprised at his point and nodded, as he patted Woohyun’s head. “Ok, fine…but why the park?”

“Because,” Woohyun folded his hands, cheerfully giggling. “This customer noona at work was telling me about this park where there’s these pretty lights and decorative area and a bridge over a lake and its really nice to go with a boyfriend.”

Sunggyu snorted. “Sounds like she was hinting that she wanted you to take her there.”

“Not really,” Woohyun waved him off. “She was telling me her boyfriend took her there.”

“Oh.” Sunggyu nodded lazily, when he realized something. “Wait, but then…if it’s for couples, why the hell should we go there. Take some girl—speaking of which, how’s that heart markings situation going? Any progress?”

Woohyun shot him another signature pout and then sheepishly looking down at his hands on the table. “No progress…”

“What about the red heart? Did you ever find out who’s it is—oh hell we all know who’s it is already.” Sunggyu sighed, as he folded his arms.

Woohyun looked away with a flustered expression. “W-What…since when hyung, we don’t know anything for sure or if it’s really—.”

“Its obviously Myungsoo…” Sunggyu shrugged. Woohyun was in the midst of an awkward ‘please stop talking before I giggle myself to death from embarrassment’ session, but it quickly faded after Sunggyu’s words.

“Wh…What?”

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow and leaned forward on the table, poking Woohyun’s forehead, playfully. “Yah, stop with the fake surprised look, its ok we both knew it already.”

Woohyun stared at his plate, then back at Sunggyu, then back at his plate, and Sunggyu realized Woohyun really didn’t know it was Myungsoo.

“Wait…” Sunggyu tilted his head in concern. “If you…you really didn’t think its Myungsoo? Then who…?”

Woohyun quickly stood up in a frenzied manner and hurried to wash his plate in the sink. “It…I don’t know. I didn’t really think about it.” He mumbled.

Sunggyu watched Woohyun wash his plate for a few moments in a sense of awe.

_“It can’t be…”_ He thought. “ _How could he not know? He’s not that innocent and he’s definitely not clueless…did he really think it’s someone else? But who else would he think is in love with him…”_

-

Woohyun refused to let Sunggyu abandoning him, ruin his day or his life. He would do things on his own—he didn’t need Sunggyu. So he packed his sweatshirt and his phone in his backpack and set off. He was relieved to realize he had also packed his little green notebook that Myungsoo had gifted him—perfect for writing his thoughts and feelings. And walking around, smelling all the sounds, and staring at all the sights of the town--gave him a lot of thoughts and feelings.

He thought about what Sunggyu said about the red heart being Myungsoo’s. Sure he kind of thought Myungsoo may have liked him a bit but not enough to want to mate with him. Besides Myungsoo was male and why would a male be attracted to him, he wondered. Woohyun was pretty sure he didn’t have any qualities males would want, but then again he didn’t really know much about what humans found attractive in each other.

“ _Attractive…”_ He looked up at the grey sky in a daze, before shivering when a cold breeze blew by. He plopped down on a bench and watched people pass the pier—mostly couples, holding hands and clinging to each other. Woohyun figured that he maybe should feel lonely or something but surprisingly he felt more curious that anything. He noticed how with most of the couples, the men had a significant height difference with their female partners. And then noticed that some of the women were wearing shoes with platforms or high heels.

It always sort of bugged him that he was short as a penguin and now was still rather short as a human. It also bugged him that Sunggyu was taller than him. He rubbed his chin in thought. Perhaps, women only liked tall men, but then why were they wearing heels—was it to compete in height with their male partners? Were all humans actually secretly in some kind of height contest?

Woohyun was officially confused.

He looked down at his black and white sneakers with a sigh. Would Sunggyu like him better if he was taller? Maybe then Sunggyu wouldn’t abandon him again. Maybe if Woohyun was taller, he would be able to be more attractive to all, he thought. He imagined Sunggyu laughing with him and then climbing up on a ladder just to pet his head, then snorted. “ _I guess that wouldn’t work that well…”_

Either way, Woohyun decided he would try to become taller in order to attain more hearts, and made his way to a shoe store.

-

Sunggyu looked around the café he stepped into, until he found a familiar face—the friend he was planning to meet.

He grinned and made his way to a table where a young, dark haired man was sitting. It was his friend from high school, Lee Howon.

“Wow how excited were you to see me huh? You actually came on time for once.” Howon joked as Sunggyu sat down across from him. Sunggyu snorted in response, though he was smiling.

“How was New York?”

-

Woohyun was in the shoe store, busy studying a pair of pink platform pumps, when he noticed a familiar face by the sandals isle. He inched closer curiously, his pink shoes in a box nestled under his arm. He realized he was right and it was Sungjong, Sunggyu’s (sort of) friend from the clothing store.

“Ah, Sungjong-sshi.”

Sungjong looked up from a pair of slippers. “You’re…Sunggyu hyung’s friend.”

Woohyun felt somewhat hurt that Sungjong didn’t remember his name, but at the same time he figured it was understandable considering they had only met a few times and never really _officially_.

“So…are you by yourself?” Sungjong was eyeing the box of pink shoes Woohyun was holding in a dubious manner.

“Ah…” Woohyun felt somewhat embarrassed and held the box to his chest. “Yeah…Sunggyu hyung went to meet someone…else.”

Sungjong nodded, his black hair flopping slightly in a rather cute way. Woohyun couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

“Do you…”

Sungjong met his eyes, with an awkward smile. “Wanna do something?”

-

“So,” Sunggyu leaned in against the table, looking both ways for a moment. “Do you have it?”

Howon reached for a paperbag from under the table and slid it across the table. “You mean this?”

Sunggyu swiped it into his lap and folded over the edge. “Yah, be a bit more discreet.”

“Where’s my thanks?” Howon frowned. “You know that wasn’t easy to get…”

“Ok, ok.” Sunggyu reached out and patted Howon’s hand. “You did good Howon-ah. Seriously you helped me out a lot with this.”

-

Woohyun found that Sungjong was more talkative than how he seemed when he saw him before with Sunggyu at the store. He liked listening to Sungjong talk—the way he talked felt different than other people Woohyun had met since becoming human. There was a purity in the way he spoke, and what he spoke about. Woohyun liked it very much—it felt refreshing.

They ended up going shopping and playfully critiqued each other’s fashion choices, while also throwing each other a compliment or two. After their shopping adventures, they stopped at a café for milkshakes and cake.

There were some girls in a table over stealing glances at them and Woohyun noticed.

“Those girls are looking at you.” Woohyun chuckled. “Wahh you must be really popular.”

Sungjong leaned his elbow on the table, before letting out a snort like laugh. “Why are you trying to be funny hyung. They’re obviously looking at you.”

“What?” Woohyun pointed to himself in a jokingly offended way. “Why me?”

Sungjong shook his head in annoyance though he was smiling beside himself. “Do you ever think about it…?” He swirled his straw in his milkshake. “Like…I don’t know, what other people think about you? Stuff like that…”

Woohyun tilted his head with a somewhat smile. “Maybe too much.”

Sungjong seemed surprised by Woohyun’s answer and nodded slowly, as if processing. “Yeah…its like, I don’t know.” Sungjong’s gaze felt out the window of the café, to the people passing by the on the street. “Maybe things would be different if…if you were someone else, you know?”

Woohyun nodded—because he did know. Being stuck as a penguin with a human soul for most of his life—Woohyun knew exactly what wishing he could be someone else felt like. But at the same time, he realized he hadn’t changed. His body did, but he felt like he was still stuck with himself—the one being he could never get away from.

The fact that even someone like Sungjong, who had been a human being his whole life, felt that same way, made Woohyun almost conflicted about how much he wanted to be human again.

Being a human being was complicated, Woohyun thought.

-

Sunggyu was surprised to see the apartment was empty when he got back home. Sure, he told Woohyun to go off and play with Myungsoo, but he didn’t expect him to be out the entire day.

“ _Its just Myungsoo…”_ Sunggyu attempted to shrug it off. It’s not like it was anything to be concerned about, he tried to tell himself. He pondered whether he should call or text Woohyun, but soon got distracted after changing into his sweatpants and cozying up on the sofa, with the television on.

Woohyun arrived home, not much later, and seemed quite energized, despite being out all day.

“Ah, finally back from your date with Myungsoo?” Sunggyu teased.

Woohyun chuckled, as he passed by Sunggyu and made a beeline for the fridge. He wasn’t talking or attempting to cuddle, and Sunggyu felt like he was missing something. He hobbled off the couch and joined Woohyun in the kitchen, arms folded in expectation.

“So,” Sunggyu leaned against the kitchen counter in anticipation. “What did you guys do?”

“Hm?” Woohyun turned to him, whilst sipping a glass of water. “Oh I wasn’t with Myungsoo.”

“What? Then—?”

“I was with Sungjong.” Woohyun smiled blissfully and floated over to the couch.

Sunggyu was frozen in disbelief.

“What— _Sungjong_?” Sunggyu marched after him. “What do you mean _Sungjong_? You guys barely know each other!”

“Yeah but we bumped into each other at the store and decided to hang out.” Woohyun grabbed the television remote to change the channel. “It was fun, we drank milkshakes. They're these pretty colored drinks that taste like fruit and ice cream—.”

“Wait—.” Sunggyu held up a hand. “You…you and _Lee Sungjong_?” He sat down next to Woohyun in a bewildered state. “How did you…I’ve known him for years and he’s never agreed to hang out with me, what the hell!”

“Well…” Woohyun pursed his lips. “Did you ever ask him to?”

Sunggyu awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “W-Well no…but still!” He felt Woohyun smiling at him way too nicely and it made him somewhat embarrassed. “What…what’s wrong?”

“Let’s go to the park.”

“What?” Sunggyu blinked, earning a disappointed pout from Woohyun.

“You promised we’d go hyung.”

“Did I?” Sunggyu gestured to himself, pretending to be surprised. “ _I_ , Kim Sunggyu, promised you that?”

“Fine, I’ll go by myself.” Woohyun shrugged and got up to leave in a sulky manner.

“Yah,” Sunggyu burst out laughing and followed after him. “Woohyun-ah, I’m sorry ok!”

-

Sunggyu was relieved he put on his jacket over his sweatshirt because it was rather chilly outside, as they walked along the bridge to the park. Woohyun was waddling beside him in a fluffy turtleneck sweater. He was staring up at the blue lights adorning the bridge in wonderment.

“Hyung,” Woohyun pointed up at the top overcast of the bridge. “Look at those blue stars, they’re just sitting on the bridge.” He was smiling in a dazzled way. “Maybe they’re tired, so they’re resting.”

The logical part of Sunggyu’s brain told him that there’s no way Woohyun believed the lights on the bridge were actually stars, and that the stars were “resting” But Woohyun just had this way of talking, this way that he was, that made Sunggyu completely forget about the logical part of his brain for a moment. Things that if a normal adult man said, Sunggyu would’ve snorted at, but when Woohyun said them, he instead felt the urge to reach out and hug him tightly.

He instead reached out and patted the back of Woohyun’s head—ruffling the younger man’s soft hair. It felt relaxing in a way and Sunggyu wondered if this is what people mean when they say pets relieve stress.

“So how come you didn’t see Myungsoo today? I thought you were gonna spend some time with him?” Sunggyu piped up, as he stuck his hands back in the pockets of his jacket.

“Why do you keep asking about Myungsoo?” Woohyun smiled in amusement. “Do you like him or something?”

“Does it matter since he likes you anyways.” Sunggyu joked, playfully nudging Woohyun. Though Woohyun didn’t really give much of a reaction save for a small half smile. “What?” Sunggyu leaned closer tilting his head to inspect Woohyun’s expression closely under the blue lights of the bridge.

Woohyun awkwardly backed away, with a somewhat shy laugh. “What’re you doing?”

“So what about you?”

“Huh?” Woohyun blinked.

“Well,” Sunggyu pursed his lips. “I don’t know, we always talk about getting people to like you but like—what about you? I’m sure you have your own taste or who knows maybe you already like someone.”

They had stopped at the top of the bridge, and Woohyun peered over the edge into the moonlit water below. Sunggyu leaned an arm on the railing beside him, though he was looking at Woohyun more than the evening view.

“I…I don’t know.” Woohyun murmured, as he folded his hands over the railing, looking up at the stars in a daze. “There…might be.” He smiled knowingly, though it seemed somewhat bashful, and it reminded Sunggyu of a shy maiden talking about her unrequited crush on a handsome prince or something. “But I don’t think…I mean that person probably just finds me annoying.”

Sunggyu followed Woohyun’s gaze and watched the river below. “It’s not Myungsoo, right?”

Woohyun groaned and drummed his fingers on the white metal rail. “I swear you’re obsessed.”

“Can you blame me? He _is_ really handsome.” Sunggyu joked, earning an easy nod of agreement from Woohyun.

“That’s true.” He chuckled.

“Ok is it…uh...Sungyeol?”

“Hyung,” Woohyun sighed. “Why’re you only guessing men? And I told you its someone who probably only finds me annoying…”

“Who knows, he could find you annoying?” Sunggyu’s brows furrowed in thought. “Is it Dongwoo? Ah! Is it your creepy boss from the café—?”

“You’re the only one who always gets annoyed with me!” Woohyun blurted out, then gasped when he realized he basically just confessed. “Uh, w-wait I—.”

“Hmm, that’s true.” Sunggyu shrugged in agreement. He seemed rather nonchalant, as if he didn’t even realize what Woohyun had just rather blatantly implied.

“ _Was he…”_ Woohyun stared at Sunggyu in disbelief. “ _Was he always this dumb_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special appearance by a lil howon (that coincidentally lands on his birthday lol ilu hoy <3)  
> Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! And yeah idk about Sunggyu anymore he's just getting dumber it seems and now he has a new rival, ice cream's sister milkshake!


	16. Touch

Sunggyu yawned and proceeded to rest his head on the counter, awaiting the end of the work day at the aquarium gift shop. The first thought that flashed through his mind was picking up Woohyun from the café and walking home together.

It made him wonder since when had he stopped putting going home and resting by himself as the thing he looked forward to most. It was probably since Woohyun appeared in his life. Then Woohyun’s bright, lovable smiling face appeared in his mind. He started to think about what he used to do before he met Woohyun and there wasn’t anything interesting or exciting that came up. Sure, it wasn’t like every day was some outlandish adventure with Woohyun, but he realized he felt lighter than he used to. He always kind of thought having people too close would be burdensome, but for some reason he didn’t feel like that at all with Woohyun. If anything, it was probably the opposite. He couldn’t really consciously explain it, but there was something of an urge or a yearning, he felt at times. Like, even though he saw Woohyun every morning and every night, it felt like it wasn’t enough.

Some nights he’d lie in bed and watch Woohyun’s back, fighting against the feeling of wanting to scoot closer and hug the other man. Usually by questioning himself, mentally, with thoughts like, “ _Why would I want to hug him in bed that’s weird and probably not something friends do…right_?”

Though his attempts to convince himself hardly did much for the aching feeling in his chest. He sighed, attempting to disregard the feelings of wanting to hug Woohyun.

But then he started a mental argument with himself and began to question what was so wrong with wanting to hug Woohyun. It was just a hug and it was just because Woohyun was cute like a little brother or a pet or something. There was actually nothing wrong with it at all, Sunggyu convinced himself. He felt satisfied with the conclusion he had arrived at, and smiled rather stupidly to himself.

Dongwoo suddenly nudged him, snapping him out of his stupor. “Hey,” Dongwoo hummed in a low voice. “Check out that girl.” Sunggyu looked in the direction Dongwoo’s gaze was in, to see a pretty young girl in a white skirt, by the keychain rack.

“I thought you were taking a break from sleeping with random—.”

“No, not for me hyung!” Dongwoo tapped Sunggyu’s arm. “For Woohyunie! Doesn’t he still have a few hearts left to get rid of? We could be like his wingmen.”

Sunggyu snorted. “Can’t really do that if he’s not even here, can we?”

 “Oh…well I guess that’s true.” Dongwoo folded his arms, sighing in thought. “But you know, we really need to help him. He’s running out of time and has he even gotten rid of any of the hearts?”

“Yeah, like 2…kind of? I think?” Sunggyu scratched his head. “Well one is red because someone is in love with him and the other one is gone so—.”

“Someone?” Dongwoo gasped and latched onto to Sunggyu’s arm, excitedly. “Who!”

Sunggyu gave a long sigh as Myungsoo's handsome face appeared in his mind. “Its—.”

“Ah, Woohyun.” Dongwoo interrupted him, when Woohyun walked into the store. Woohyun seemed cheerful enough, and was basically just his usual self, but for some reason the longer Sunggyu looked at his face, the brighter and more glowing it got.

Sunggyu didn’t know if it was the sunlight or what, but he really couldn’t be bothered. He was more concerned with wondering exactly when Woohyun seemed to have gotten even more handsome and even more adorable.

Sunggyu squinted at him, then reached out and poked Woohyun’s cheek.

“Hm?” Woohyun, who was in the middle of talking to Dongwoo, turned to Sunggyu. “Hyung, what’re you doing?”

“Nothing.” Sunggyu shrugged it off like it was nothing. Woohyun gave him this little ‘you’re being weird again hyung’ smile, that was equal parts confusion and amusement, and way too charming. But then again, most things Woohyun did were rather charming, if anything that seemed to be his charm—being unintentionally charming.

Sunggyu was pretty sure he was getting a headache.

He really wasn’t paying attention to Dongwoo and Woohyun’s conversation until the word “date” was mentioned.

He immediately perked up, and narrowed his eyes. “What.”

“What do you think hyung?” Dongwoo was grinning (but that didn’t say much because Dongwoo grinned almost all the time.)

“What.” Sunggyu repeated.

“About Woohyun’s date~.”

“ _Date_?” Sunggyu didn’t mean to sound offended, but well, he kind of was. Why was he only hearing about a “date” just now? What if it was with Myungsoo? What if one of those creeps who visit the café asked him out? “They’re really brave, aren’t they…” He muttered, earning concerned stares from Woohyun and Dongwoo.

“Uh…” Woohyun cleared his throat. “Anyways, I’m still not sure…I mean she works at the maid café in the area, but its like…” He smiled shyly. “I don’t know if I should…”

Sunggyu stared at him, perplexed. “Girl…maid café—oh. OH, it’s a girl?!” He let out a rather loud laugh of relief, even slapping Dongwoo’s back in all the hilarity.

“Uh…yeah.” Woohyun sighed. “Hyung, you’re really…acting weird—.”

“You should totally go.” Sunggyu grabbed his arm, suddenly. “Where are you gonna take her? Yah, this is your chance to finally get another heart!”

Dongwoo rather seamlessly hopped on board with Sunggyu and nodded along. “Right? We’ll prep you after work, ok? When’s the date!”

-

Woohyun turned around in the floor length mirror in the bathroom and hummed thoughtfully.

“What do you think, hyung? Do you think I should go with this shirt or the white one?”

Sunggyu was busy lying on the bed, staring at his phone with a bored expression.

“The white one.”

“Why?” Woohyun leaned in the door frame that connected the bathroom to Sunggyu’s bedroom.

“Because it’s see through.”

Woohyun gasped and protectively held his hands over his chest in an x formation. “R-Really?”

Sunggyu looked up from his phone in amusement. “You didn’t know?”

Woohyun looked down in disbelief. All this time he thought his special white shirt was just a lightweight, stylish piece of fashion. Though in hindsight, it did make sense why he always felt like he received more stares when he wore it.

“Wasn’t Dongwoo supposed to be here to help?” Woohyun frowned as he watched Sunggyu clamber off the bed and move towards him.

“You know how he is,” Sunggyu’s fingers brushed the collar of Woohyun’s shirt, as he undid the first button, and then the second one.

“What…are you doing?” Woohyun looked into his eyes somewhat alarmed. His ears felt hot, and he really wished Sunggyu would stop giving him that _look_ —the look that made Woohyun feel like his old penguin self being backed into a corner by a hungry seal.

“Helping you.” Sunggyu supplied, rather _un_ helpfully, as he held both sides of Woohyun’s now completely unbuttoned denim shirt. Woohyun shyly pulled the folds out of Sunggyu’s grasp and covered himself with them.

“How is that helping…” He mumbled, though Sunggyu somehow found it amusing and chuckled softly.

“Yah,” He playfully poked Woohyun’s side, while not so subtly attempting to pull his shirt open again. “Why’re you getting shy, it’s not like I haven’t already seen everything—.”

“I can do it myself ok.” Woohyun replied in a similar playful tone and brushed past Sunggyu.

But Sunggyu found himself grabbing onto Woohyun’s arm to stop him. His hands felt like they were magnetized to Woohyun’s body, and he wasn’t completely sure why, but he just really, really wanted to touch him.

“Ahhh hyung stop its fine already.” Woohyun turned around to face Sunggyu just to flash him a whiny pout. Sunggyu’s smile soon faded when he noticed something prodding under Woohyun’s shirt on either side of his chest area. He rather bluntly reached out and pulled open Woohyun’s shirt again to see that the prodding was from Woohyun’s nipples that were rather perky.

Sunggyu stared shamelessly and Woohyun made a flustered sound and grabbed his shirt flaps and crossed them over his chest in embarrassment. It made Sunggyu remember how Woohyun had covered his chest and worn his towel as a dress the first time Sunggyu helped him shower. But other times he seemed fine with exposing his chest? So why now—?

“W…Why…” Sunggyu’s throat was dry and there was an unnervingly heated feeling washing over him.

“It…s-sometimes they get like that…” Woohyun blurted out and looked away with a flushed face. “Probably when you touch me s-so if you could stop…”

Sunggyu muttered a swear word under his breath. This was not real. This was not happening. There was no way Woohyun was a real dude, because how in the hell could a man make him feel so damn frustrated and probably not even know it. Sunggyu realized it was even worse because Woohyun used to be a penguin.

“ _What is this…? Bestiality…?”_

“So…” Woohyun had buttoned up his shirt again and was inspecting himself in the mirror for the second time. “I think this one is fine since it’s a day time date and all, right? That’s what this blog I read said—.”

Woohyun’s date research ramblings were cut short when Sunggyu’s phone rang. It was his older sister.

“Sunggyu…” His sister’s voice was trembling. “Its mom.”

Woohyun was about to ask who was on the phone when he noticed Sunggyu’s blank, shocked expression. He watched Sunggyu unconsciously drop his phone, letting it fall onto the bed.

“Hyung…?” Woohyun’s smiled faded. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Sunggyu was silent and brushed past him towards the closet. He immediately pulled out a small duffel bag and started shoving some clothes into it, then headed for the bathroom to grab some toiletries. Woohyun worriedly followed after him. “Hyung what’s—?”

“My mom fainted and she’s in the goddamn hospital!” Sunggyu suddenly shouted, rather aggressively. Though the moment he met Woohyun’s surprised wide eyes, he let out a shaky breath. “I…I’m sorry.” He took Woohyun’s hand in his. “Stay here ok? I’ll be gone for a few days.”

“W-What?” Woohyun gasped. “N-No wait! I’m coming too!”  He hastily leapt into action and grabbed his trusty backpack and grabbed some of his clothes and placed them inside. Though Sunggyu was already in the entrance way putting on his shoes. Woohyun almost tripped over his own feet as he rushed to catch up to Sunggyu.

-

Woohyun couldn’t help but notice how Sunggyu’s fingers trembled on the steering wheel, the way he kept pursing and biting his lip, the way his eyes shifted to and fro anxiously.

Woohyun reached out and put his hand on Sunggyu’s thigh, earning a side glance from the other man. But Woohyun didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what would be the right thing to say, but he still wanted Sunggyu to know he was right there for him if he needed it.

Sunggyu was way too preoccupied to notice, however and continued driving in silence.

-

The drive was about an hour and a half and they pulled up to a humble looking suburban neighborhood. Woohyun wondered why they were, well wherever they were, instead of a hospital. He’d seen enough hospitals in television shows to know that this area definitely didn’t look like it had one. But nonetheless, he quickly grabbed his backpack and followed after Sunggyu, who had already gone through the metal gate leading towards a staircase towards a one-story house. Woohyun halted immediately on the other side of the gate. It gave him flashbacks to his penguin days, of being trapped, of only being able to watch as people passed him by like he was nothing. He helplessly watched Sunggyu heading up the stairs through the metal bars.

“Hyung…” He whimpered. it was clear Sunggyu was distracted with his mother’s health and didn’t notice Woohyun wasn’t following him.

-

Sunggyu pushed open the front door in a hasty, nervous manner. He was anticipating a grave, serious atmosphere, with a few tears here and there, but was instead greeted by, his entire family—father, mother, older sister, older sister’s husband, niece and nephew, cousins, etc. They held up a big ‘welcome home’ banner and threw confetti at him.

Sunggyu was speechless for a moment, before tightly shutting his mouth and turning to leave.

“I’m sorry baby!” His mother quickly pulled him back and gave him a hug, to which Sunggyu didn’t return. “The only way to get you to come home was to lie—.”

“Do you ever think that maybe this is why I don’t come home more often?” Sunggyu hissed, but everyone just laughed. Teasing and tricking Sunggyu was something of a family hobby, that everyone (except Sunggyu, naturally) enjoyed.

“Oh come on, did you really believe it?” His older sister poked his arm, playfully. “I mean if mom collapsed and was in the hospital, why would we tell you to come back home instead of the hospital?”

Sunggyu blinked dumbly. “That…I thought…so that we could go together to…”

Everyone laughed some more and Sunggyu decided he hated them all. Well, he thought, at least he had Woohyun with him, so he didn’t look like a fool all by himself. He turned to his side, then looked behind him, but Woohyun was nowhere to be seen.

“Woohyun?” Sunggyu called out.

“Who’s Woohyun?” One of his cousins asked, but Sunggyu already escaped through the front door. He looked down the steps to see Woohyun pitifully standing on the other side of the iron gate, looking up at him through the bars.

“Hyung…”

Sunggyu was pissed just a second ago, but thanks to Woohyun, he could smile again.

He strolled down the stairs at a leisurely pace that made Woohyun whimper in frustration.

“Hyung…what happened?” He asked, with worried eyes. “Is your mom ok?”

Sunggyu unlocked the gate and pulled it open so Woohyun could come inside. He then proceeded to pull Woohyun into a hug. Woohyun immediately expected the worst, because why else would Sunggyu hug him outside where people could see?

“Sorry I left you outside.” Sunggyu patted his cheek. “My mom’s fine.”

Woohyun breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear.” Suddenly his stomach started to grumble, and he gasped and pressed his hand to his tummy. “Ah…the stomach monster is angry again.”

Sunggyu chuckled. “Ah, that’s right you didn’t get to eat anything because you were going on your lunch date—ah! Your date! Ah crap, wait maybe we can—.”

“Its ok hyung.” Woohyun waved him off with a reassuring smile. “I called her and apologized and said I couldn’t go. Making sure your mom is ok is more important.”

Sunggyu hugged Woohyun again. He didn’t really have a good reason for it, but Woohyun seemed so pure and sweet and he gave up his date for what turned out to be nothing.

“I’m sorry,” Sunggyu sighed, and rubbed the back of Woohyun’s head, in a kind of refusal to let him go. “They all made it up…the whole thing. My mom’s perfectly healthy…”

“Really?” Woohyun smiled. “Ah…that’s such a relief.”

“Yah…don’t you get it? They lied. So basically, you missed your date because of it and—.”

Woohyun held onto Sunggyu’s hand and met his eyes with a warm eye smile.

“But your mom is ok, and you’re not sad or anxious anymore, so it’s a relief.”

 Sunggyu was about to go in for hug number three, but was interrupted by his family yelling for him to stop standing around and come inside.

-

Sunggyu’s two cousins, both women in their mid to late twenties stared Woohyun down as the three, sat at the kitchen table, while Sunggyu grabbed a drink from the fridge.

“So…you’re Sunggyu’s friend?” One of them asked. “But you…you’re so handsome?”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes as the two cousins proceeded to inspect Woohyun’s face and comment on how tiny it was and how he looked like he could be a celebrity.

“So,” Sunggyu’s older cousin turned to him the moment he sat down across from Woohyun at the square shaped wooden table. “He’s good looking _and_ he came all the way here just for you?”

“He came for my mom, not me.” Sunggyu sighed and took a glug of beer.

The older cousin ignored him and stared at Woohyun in amazement. “Wah…you know what they call people like him?” She gestured to Woohyun, as she stared Sunggyu down. “A gem—he’s a gem, you better not lose him~.”

Woohyun was, of course his bashful, yet giddy self at all the praise he was receiving. Though he noticed Sunggyu glance at him while barely audibly murmuring, “I know.”

-

After inspecting each and every detail of Sunggyu’s childhood bedroom, including posters for bands he liked, old clothes, and of course, Sunggyu’s old bed, Woohyun plopped down on the floor, cross legged. Sunggyu’s mother had brought “apology” fruit (a bowl or star and heart cut apple slices, strawberries, and melon.) Woohyun stared at them on the floor table with eager eyes, as Sunggyu settled down beside him.

“You’re still hungry after dinner?” Sunggyu asked.

Woohyun chuckled softly. “But hyung…the fruit looks funny. Why are they shaped like that?”

Sunggyu smiled and ruffled Woohyun’s hair. “Trust me you’ll like it.” Woohyun tilted his head in slight hesitation before cautiously picking a strawberry.

Sunggyu leaned back a bit and sighed. “Sorry about all this…we even ended up staying for dinner and everything.”

“I don’t mind.” Woohyun shrugged. “Its nice to see what your family is like.”

Sunggyu studied Woohyun’s enamored expression as he tried each and every fruit piece. “I bet you wonder where your parents are, huh? Ah, wait aren’t they in the south pole or something?”

Woohyun shot him a frustrated look. “Hyung, my parents are human…but yeah I do wonder where they are sometimes. Maybe they’re as nice as your parents?”

That got Sunggyu to smile again as he patted Woohyun’s knee. “We should look for them.”

Woohyun nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we should.”

They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the giggles and loud laughter of Sunggyu’s family from the living room.

“Hey…” Sunggyu cleared his throat awkwardly. “I don’t know if I said this before, but thanks…for today.” Woohyun looked at the three pieces of fruit left in the bowl and smiled softly.

“That’s what friends do…right?” Though the moment he subtly looked up to check Sunggyu’s expression, he realized Sunggyu was staring at him, rather intently. Woohyun didn’t know what to think, but he suddenly felt really nervous, though he wasn’t sure why.

“O-Ok, well maybe we should go see what your family is—.”

Suddenly he was being pulled into a hug, though this felt different to the two hugs Sunggyu gave him before, outside his house. One of Sunggyu’s arms was around his waist and the other was around his shoulder. He could feel Sunggyu’s warm hand, his fingers ruffled in his hair. Sunggyu’s chest was practically pressed to his, so much so that he was quite sure he could feel Sunggyu’s heartbeat. It felt way too intimate and it gave Woohyun way too many strange warm feelings. He didn’t even realize he had made a whimpery sound, as he pressed his head against Sunggyu’s shoulder.

“Wait…” He murmured in a voice that was weaker than he intended it to be. He didn’t know why he was so flustered anyways, it was just a hug. But at the same time it wasn’t. It wasn’t just a hug. And Sunggyu was looking at him again and it was way too embarrassing and why did Sunggyu look so—.

“Are you ok?” Sunggyu practically whispered, one hand sliding to cup Woohyun’s cheek. He felt bad that he wasn’t more worried about how flustered and strange Woohyun was acting, and instead was internally dying over how cute Woohyun was. It confused Sunggyu, it frustrated him so much, in fact. He held both Woohyun’s cheeks in an attempt to raise his head so he could actually see Woohyun’s face. But what he got was a slightly watery eyed, flush faced expression with full just bitten reddish pink lips, quivering.

Woohyun clutched onto Sunggyu’s wrists so he could remove Sunggyu’s hands from his face, but Sunggyu was rather resistant and leaned forward. Woohyun didn’t want him to because he didn’t want Sunggyu to see how embarrassed he was over a goddamn hug. But Sunggyu had abandoned the concept of personal space and his nose was practically touching Woohyun’s.

“Hyung…” Woohyun mumbled, as he averted his eyes, because anything was better than staring into Sunggyu’s. “Why…why are you being weird?”

Sunggyu pursed his lips. All he could see was Woohyun’s mouth, his plush, slightly parted lips and he was completely mesmerized.

 “Do you…” Sunggyu breathed as Woohyun hesitantly met his eyes. “Do you want me to stop?”

And in that moment something seemed to flicker in Woohyun’s eyes that felt similar to what Sunggyu was feeling, that was tugging at his chest, making his heart throb, causing his stomach to get a familiar warm pooling that sent shivery shockwaves throughout his whole body.

So he finally goddamn did it. He kissed Woohyun.

As expected, Woohyun’s lips felt as soft as they looked.

Sunggyu tried his best to be gentle at first, as he pressed his lips to Woohyun’s, not too roughly, not too eagerly, and it felt nice, but Sunggyu was way too impatient. He leaned forward, grasping Woohyun’s thigh with one hand, as the other still held Woohyun’s face. Woohyun’s lips tasted sweet like the strawberries and apples he was just eating, and it was way, _way_ too late.

Sunggyu was already addicted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, well that happened. I guess it had to eventually lol. Thanks for putting up with my slow updates! ;u; (Istg i write like a sentence a day its tragic)


	17. Maybe, probably

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Its been a while as usual I'm so sorry for my typically slow af updates ;___; I love u all <3 I know this chapter is relatively short :( but well its still important hehe :')

It would be a lie to say Woohyun pulled away immediately from Sunggyu the moment their lips touched. Or even as Sunggyu pressed closer and grasped onto his thigh. In fact, it felt better and better, the more Sunggyu kissed him.

But Woohyun couldn’t just be simply be ok with that.

So he pulled back after what felt like too short. The moment his mouth separated from Sunggyu’s, his lips tingled, burned for more.

He absently touched his lip, staring wide-eyed at Sunggyu. But Sunggyu didn’t seem to share his surprise and seemed almost hypnotized.

“What…” Woohyun breathed, his face still heated with color. “What are we…doing?”

Sunggyu pursed his lips and looked down, then towards the door as if to check if someone had intruded while they had been distracted.

“I…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know.”

Well that was a lie. Of course he knew what was happening. He was kissing Woohyun. But the important question was _why_. (And no, “Woohyun’s lips looked pretty,” wasn’t a good enough excuse he told himself.) That made him realize that was probably Woohyun’s first kiss—he had taken Woohyun’s first kiss. He somehow felt like he accomplished something and hated himself for thinking that.

“Crap…” He muttered, looking around for a moment, before standing up. “Just uh…maybe it was just…y-you know I guess I got kind of caught up in like…everything with like the date and then my mom and then—.”

“Date…?”

“Yeah, your date.” Sunggyu shrugged. “It was probably all of that, so—.”

“But…” Woohyun frowned, clearly in a state of confusion. “Why does my date have anything to do with…what just happened? Did it…did it bother you or—?”

Sunggyu suddenly stuttered. “W-Wait no, I just mean…uh I—.”

Woohyun chuckled softly, and it made Sunggyu weak. “Hyung, you’re not making sense. Don’t tell me you were jealous~” He smiled in a rather kind way that didn’t make it seem like he was teasing Sunggyu. “I get it hyung you’re lonely too. How about we set you up with someone—.”

“Y-Yes I’m lonely!” Sunggyu suddenly blurted out. “When…when you’re not there.” His voice softened considerably, as he stared at an indent on the table. “I-Its lonely only if you’re not there.”

Woohyun was quiet and when Sunggyu finally looked at him, Woohyun was staring at the table. Sunggyu couldn’t help but notice how red Woohyun’s ears were and absently sat back down beside him.

“I…just, I mean I—.”

“But…” Woohyun mumbled, his finger pressing to his lower lip again. “Isn’t…isn’t this what mating pairs do…? Hyung,” He turned to Sunggyu. “I thought…I thought you said you didn’t like males—.”

“I-I don’t!”

Woohyun frowned. “But…I’m—.”

“It’s not that I like men I just…I-I don’t know ok? You…” Sunggyu groaned at his own inability to form proper sentences. He ended up giving up and buried his face in his hands. 

Woohyun blinked, attempting to take in what Sunggyu had just said (or attempted to). “Hyung…you know I’m not a female…right?”

“Of course I know that.” Sunggyu sighed, and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

They sat there in silence for a moment.

“So…” Woohyun finally spoke, after attempting to absorb everything that had just happened. “What…what should we do now?”

Sunggyu kind of wanted to suggest another kiss, but that would most likely cause Woohyun to further question his motives. Well, it wasn’t like Sunggyu knew them himself. He just really wanted to feel the plush sweetness that were Woohyun’s lips—to taste him again. He realized he hadn’t kissed (or did anything) with anyone for a while.

“ _Yeah, maybe I really am just lonely…”_ He wondered to himself, with a sigh.

Their awkward silence was thankfully interrupted by Sunggyu’s cousins’ children rushing in, wanting to play.

-

In a turn of events, Woohyun _offered_ to sleep on the floor and proceeded to put together a makeshift bed from comforters and pillows beside Sunggyu’s bed. Unfortunately, Sunggyu didn’t really get the hint that it was probably because of his actions (even though it one hundred percent was.)

Sunggyu lay on his bed and watched Woohyun adjust some pillows with the utmost concentration. Woohyun seemed so focused that Sunggyu couldn’t help but find it amusing. But as he reached out to pat the back of Woohyun’s head, Woohyun turned to him and he ended up shoving his palm against Woohyun’s face.

Woohyun whimpered as Sunggyu immediately retracted his hand.

“What’re you doing?” Woohyun frowned and rubbed his reddened nose.

“Nothing.” Sunggyu mumbled and continued watching Woohyun, despite the latter not doing anything particularly interesting.

But it got too unnerving for Woohyun to have Sunggyu’s eyes burning holes in the back of his neck. He turned to Sunggyu with a soft sigh. “Why…do you really have to stare at me so much?”

Sunggyu blinked, seemingly taken aback by Woohyun’s request, as if he didn’t realize what he was doing. “But there’s nothing else nice to stare at.” Sunggyu replied stubbornly.

“I…” Woohyun looked down at the folds of the blanket underneath him and awkwardly prodded it with his finger. It was too embarrassing—Sunggyu’s eyes on him made him feel bare, tingly, _hot._ He didn’t know why, but it was way too frustrating and he didn’t really know how to handle it. “I’m not nice to look at either, look at something else.”

_“How can he say that when he’s the cutest goddamn thing in this whole house…?”_ Sunggyu wondered with a somewhat dreamy sigh. He really, _really_ wished he hadn’t made the mistake of kissing Woohyun because now all he wanted to do was kiss him again. He should’ve just let himself always wonder, but now he felt frustrated by knowing just how good Woohyun’s lips felt and having to convince himself not to touch them again. He felt his sense of shame and dignity fading away as his eyes lingered on Woohyun’s mouth, every twitch and breath and nervous lip bite. Sunggyu was two seconds away from throwing everything to the wind and straight up asking Woohyun if he could kiss him again, but then Woohyun announced he was going to sleep.

The announcement came like a sudden slap, or a swift splash of cold water to Sunggyu who dumbly sat there with his frustration as Woohyun snuggled under the blanket of his makeshift bed on the floor.

-

Sunggyu didn’t know what time it was, but he was quite sure he had been lying in the dark, listening to Woohyun’s breathing for hours. He wasn’t trying to be creepy, he really wasn’t, but every shuddery breath, and whimper that Woohyun made in his sleep was pretty much going to be the death of Sunggyu. Woohyun made such cute sounds on his own, it made his mind go into overdrive, imagining all the sounds he could elicit from him. Sunggyu mentally cursed himself, because he was pretty sure he really needed some action. Because why else would he be thinking about Woohyun like this so much. He considered grabbing his phone to look at some “materials” to get his mind off Woohyun, when he felt the edge of the bed creak.

Woohyun was crawling in bed beside him, with eyes squeezed shut in sleepiness. He reached out his hands to find Sunggyu’s arm, then his shoulder and snuggled in beside him, resting his head on Sunggyu’s shoulder with a contented sigh.

Sunggyu was frozen. “…Woohyun-ah…” He whispered. “What’re you doing?”

Woohyun made a mumbling sound in return and buried his nose into the crook of Sunggyu’s neck. “Its cold down there, let me sleep here ok?”

Sunggyu sighed softly, almost in a resigning manner. “But—.”

“I won’t do anything to you I promise.” Woohyun whispered and the way he said it was so honest and pure, Sunggyu wanted to jump off a cliff.

“ _What’s that supposed to mean?”_ Sunggyu groaned, massaging his forehead in pain. “ _God damn it can he fricking not…its not even cold, its almost summer for crying out loud…”_

-

Sunggyu was disappointed to find that Woohyun was not beside him when he woke up the next morning. Instead he found Woohyun in the kitchen cooking with Sunggyu’s mom and it seemed they had bonded over their shared love of making omelets.

Sunggyu couldn’t handle the egg talk and wandered back to his room to get the present he had managed to remember to bring with him for his sister. It was what he had asked his friend Howon to bring from America—a special rare yarn brand that his sister liked and used for her knitting business.

His sister was really grateful and gave Sunggyu a kiss on the cheek. Woohyun had happened to see the cheek kiss and it made him wonder if maybe perhaps kisses meant something different to Sunggyu.

_“But…”_ Woohyun watched Sunggyu talking to his sister about all the effort he put into obtaining the yarn with excessive dramatic flair. “ _It really feels like he does…like me.”_

-

The drive back home was mostly silent and neither Sunggyu or Woohyun minded it, but they both could feel the underlying awkwardness in the air.

As soon as they got back to Sunggyu’s apartment, Sunggyu flopped down on the sofa with an exhausted sigh.

“Well, that’s that.”

Woohyun went to the bedroom to put his bag away and absently caught his reflection in the mirror by the door. He tentatively touched his lower lip in a daze. It somehow didn’t feel like it really happened—that Sunggyu had done that to him. Out of habit, he grabbed a tube of lip balm from a small pouch from his backpack and began to apply it.

Sunggyu walked in, and stopped in his steps, as soon as he caught sight of Woohyun putting on his lip balm, similar to how a hunter would pause after discovering a deer peacefully grazing in the heart of the forest.

“I-I’m going to get a girlfriend!” Sunggyu suddenly blurted out.

Woohyun stared at him, blinking and Sunggyu stared back with a rather crazed look.

“Uh…why—.”

“S-So you don’t have to like—you don’t have to think about…that thing that happened last night.” Sunggyu stammered. “Because it was just…so yeah if I just…”

Woohyun nodded, though he didn’t quite understand. “Ok…”

“Good.” Sunggyu nodded, as if he was satisfied with how he had handled the situation.

Woohyun smiled softly, cautiously, at him (more because he was unsure of what Sunggyu’s next move would be with how strange and spontaneous he was acting) and awkwardly closed his lip balm and put it on the dresser.

“So what should we eat for dinner—?”

Sunggyu suddenly moved towards him, way too quickly as his hands enveloped Woohyun’s cheeks. “Please let me kiss you.” His breath was ragged and desperate.

“Please...yes…” Woohyun uttered out, breathlessly, almost immediately, with just as much desperation. His glittery eyes fluttered closed as Sunggyus mouth moved against his own.

Sunggyu was significantly less tentative and significantly more eager than the first time, as his tongue slipped between Woohyun’s parted lips. Sunggyu pressed forward until Woohyun felt his back hitting the mattress and Sunggyu’s fingers grasping his wrists, pinning them down.

Woohyun gasped softly, as Sunggyu rather roughly yanked the neck of Woohyun’s tshirt lower to expose his collar bone, and then Sunggyu’s mouth was on his neck and Woohyun was dizzy with arousal.

Woohyun manage to rekindle his senses enough to utter out Sunggyu’s name. “Wait…” His breathing was shallow, as Sunggyu’s hand slipped under his tshirt. Woohyun grabbed onto Sunggyu’s sneaky hand to stop him. “I thought…” He looked up at Sunggyu with a dazed look. “What about finding a girlfriend…or something like that?”

Sunggyu stared down at him, though his eyes were completely on Woohyun’s mouth. “What.”

“You just said,” Woohyun attempted to explain, while stopping Sunggyu’s naughty hand once again. “That you were going to…”

“What.” Sunggyu repeated. He clearly had no recollection of what he had said less than five minutes ago and had no desire to remember either.

“Hyung,” Woohyun frowned. He attempted to sit up whilst holding onto both Sunggyu’s hands, in case the other man made another attempt for his shirt. “You…isn’t this kind of weird—?”

“What is?” Sunggyu was rather blatantly looking below Woohyun’s neck for some reason. Woohyun noticed and looked down, only to realize his nipples were slightly prodding through his shirt. He hastily covered his chest with his arms in an x-formation.

“Th-that’s because you were…trying to touch me.” Woohyun mumbled and looked away. “Don’t look…”

Instead of looking, Sunggyu proceeded to practically tackle Woohyun onto the bed again.

“Yah, I barely touched you.” Sunggyu’s lips were pressed to his ear, and his voice was somewhat low and gravelly and Woohyun unconsciously held in his breath. “Do you really like it that much?” He pressed his thumb to Woohyun’s slightly exposed hipbone, as his fingertips pressed to Woohyun’s skin, under his shirt. Woohyun gasped, despite himself, and bit his lip.

He didn’t understand when exactly Sunggyu had become, well capable of making him feel such a way—a feeling even he realized was clear as day—arousal.

Woohyun’s hands were trembling, as he grasped to the collar of Sunggyu’s t-shirt and drew him closer. Woohyun’s half-lidded gaze, his glittery eyes, the way he bit his reddened lower lip—all of it was the most illegal combination of cute and sexy that Sunggyu had ever seen.

“Its ok right?” Woohyun asked, softly. “For two males to mate…? I saw it on the internet, its ok hyung I’ll take care of you.”

Sunggyu almost choked on a chuckle. “Yah…this isn’t…” But really if he thought about it, he was probably 5 minutes away from ripping Woohyun’s pants off. But that was way too fast—hell they weren’t even supposed to be doing any of this— _he_ wasn’t supposed to be doing any of this. Sunggyu dizzily sat up, running a hand through his hair.

What the hell had he just done? What the hell was he about to do?

“This…” He looked at Woohyun obediently lying on the bed, staring up at him with curious anticipation. “No…” Sunggyu shook his head. “We…this isn’t—.”

“C-Can’t we?” Woohyun sat up, grasping to the folds of Sunggyu’s shirt, his lips ghosting Sunggyu’s. “It’s ok hyung, men can do it together too—.”

“W-Wait.” Sunggyu grabbed Woohyun’s cheeks, holding him away at arm’s length. “You…yah I thought you didn’t like men either.”

“I don’t know what I like.” Woohyun replied in a rather sulky manner, frustrated that Sunggyu was stopping him. “But it…I think….” Woohyun met his gaze with an earnest, sparkly eyed stare. “I think I like you.”

Sunggyu’s face reddened despite himself. “That…how would you know that. You’ve never kissed anyone else, you were probably just reacting to that—.”

“Fine you want me to kiss someone else to see if I—?”

“No!” Sunggyu gasped.

Woohyun sighed. “Then what am I supposed to do.”

“Don’t kiss other people.” Sunggyu replied stubbornly. “Or let other people kiss you. And if someone else touches you, you better have some pepper spray nearby to—.”

“Do you like me hyung?” Woohyun blurted out. “Y-You do right?”

Sunggyu was quiet for a moment and rubbed the back of his neck. “I…I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Maybe?

“P-Probably, ok!”

Woohyun sighed. “What a romantic confession—better than all the dramas and movies for sure.”

“Shut up.” Sunggyu nudged him with a small smile. “I don’t know ok…this is weird for me.”

“Its weird to like me?” Woohyun pouted.

“N-No!” Sunggyu quickly waved his hands around, not wanting to make Woohyun sulky again. “Its just…you’re…and I’m…we’re both guys. It’s never happened to me before.”

“Really?” Woohyun’s eyes widened. “So like…I’m your first?”

Sunggyu snorted. “If you want to look at it that way, I suppose.”

Woohyun smiled to himself at that, and fiddled with his fingers for a moment. “For me too…” He bit his lower lip to hide a shy smile. “Hyung is my first…”

“Ahh…” Sunggyu groaned like he was in pain. “Yah,” He pointed at Woohyun. “You can’t do things like that, do you know how unfair you’re being?”

“What?” Woohyun frowned, genuinely confused. “But…what was I doing—?”

“If you keep being like that, I’ll stop asking for permission before doing things to you.” Sunggyu attempted to make a threat, whilst gently poking Woohyun’s cheek.

“But…” Woohyun drummed his fingers on Sunggyu’s knee and chuckled softly, flashing Sunggyu one of his sunshine dimple smiles. “I like when you ask for permission.”

Sunggyu almost melted through the bed into the floorboards. He proceeded to squish both Woohyun’s cheeks, before slinging his arms around Woohyun’s neck, pulling the younger man into his chest. “Mm, ok hyung will always ask, ok?”

Woohyun smiled into Sunggyu’s hug and buried his nose into Sunggyu’s shirt, inhaling his scent. The sound of satisfaction he made was way too cute Sunggyu ended up asking for permission to tackle him once again and predictably, permission was easily granted.


	18. Exercise

Sunggyu faintly recalled Woohyun telling him he didn’t have work for the week since the café was closed for construction that morning over breakfast. He only lightly remembered this because he was more distracted with more important things like how huggable Woohyun’s back looked when he was cooking, or how he would probably look even cuter with an apron. Sunggyu made a mental note to buy an apron for Woohyun, and then proceeded to think up decent excuses to tell him of why he would buy him an apron. Because it wasn’t like Sunggyu could say he got it for Woohyun because he thought he’d look cute in it.

“ _Wait_ ,” Sunggyu put down his coffee mug, with an almost enlightened thought. Why _couldn’t_ he? He could totally say he got it because he thought Woohyun would look cute in it. Yeah, there was totally nothing wrong with that, because they were now…well Sunggyu wasn’t quite sure of what they were exactly. Though that was probably his own fault for his cowardly garbage sort of confession.

He should probably tell Woohyun how much he liked him, he thought. But how was he supposed to do that. Did he even _know_ how much he liked Woohyun? Woohyun probably knew. Woohyun seemed to know him more than he knew himself.

Sunggyu suddenly felt pissed. How did Woohyun get to know so much about him. Why was he so damn perceptive and intuitive. But then he sighed in a somewhat dreamy way because that was yet another one of Woohyun’s appealing qualities—how he understood without having to be told.

And like that, his mind completely ran away with his thoughts that he totally forgot to listen to what Woohyun was saying about the café being under construction.

-

Sunggyu leaned his elbow on the counter of the aquarium gift shop that afternoon, playing with the plushie keychains in amusement. “Doesn’t this look like Woohyunie?”

Dongwoo appeared from the back, carrying a box, because unlike Sunggyu, he was actually working. “Did you say something hyung?”

“Ah, or this one.” Sunggyu chuckled and picked up a round pink shell plushie with a smiling face.

Dongwoo decided to play along. “Then this one is you, hyung.”

It was a grey whale with a constipated expression. Sunggyu grabbed the plushie from Dongwoo, threw it across the store and proceeded to ignore Dongwoo for the entire day. (Though he only lasted about twenty minutes.)

-

Sunggyu refused to admit how excited he felt about going home after work that day—especially considering Woohyun would probably be at home. But, it wasn’t like Woohyun would be eagerly waiting for him or anything. Sunggyu laughed off the thought, though it did make him somewhat happily embarrassed to think about.

When he arrived home to his apartment, he found Woohyun in the kitchen, cooking.

“Ah, you’re home hyung.” Woohyun turned to give him a warm smile. “I was just preparing dinner.”

Sunggyu looked around the kitchen, then behind him into the living room before turning to Woohyun again. “What…what did you do all day?”

“Hm?” Woohyun looked up from seasoning whatever he was cooking in a pot. “Oh just some cleaning, vacuuming, laundry…I also took a walk. The weather was really nice today. How was work?”

Sunggyu stared at him in a daze. “ _Is this…is this what its like to be newlyweds.”_ He wondered while smiling stupidly to himself.

Woohyun didn’t seem to notice Sunggyu’s general oddness or weird smiles aimed at him and continued cooking. “How’s Dongwoo doing…?” Woohyun trailed off when he noticed Sunggyu inching closer to him with a weird sparkle in his eye. “What? Are you hungry?” He chuckled.

Sunggyu nodded and peered over Woohyun’s shoulder to sniff the fragrance of the food.

“Very hungry.” He said each syllable with too much emphasis and a little too close to Woohyun’s ear.

“If you’re so hungry, you should help too.” Woohyun sighed, and nudged Sunggyu, teasingly.

“Help?” Sunggyu frowned. “But I’m _so_ tired from work…and Woohyunie’s food is the best.” He leaned his chin on Woohyun’s shoulder, lazily.

Woohyun didn’t really understand why Sunggyu was being so clingy especially while he was trying to cook. He made a sulky noise to get Sunggyu to stop but Sunggyu just turned his head and kissed Woohyun’s cheek instead. Woohyun whimpered and stepped away in embarrassment, but Sunggyu moved with him and proceeded to grasp both of Woohyun’s forearms, whilst still standing behind him.

“Woohyu-ah,” Woohyun could feel Sunggyu’s breath tickle the skin below his ear and shivered. “A kiss…can I?” Though Sunggyu was already in the midst of pressing kisses all over Woohyun’s cheek and behind his ear.

“Y-You’re already doing it…” Woohyun whined as he attempted to wriggle out of Sunggyu’s grasp. “I need to finish cooking hyung…”

Sunggyu sighed and reluctantly let Woohyun go. “You know…” He leaned on the counter and watched Woohyun rush to stir the food in the pot. “When you like someone you have to give them at least five kisses a day. It’s the law.”

Woohyun eyed him suspiciously. “I never read that…are you lying?”

Sunggyu put a hand to his chest in offense. “Why would you even think I would…” He looked away in dismay. “Is that all you think of me Woohyun-ah…all this time, these were your thoughts, huh?” He realized Woohyun was smiling at him—one of those fond, warm smiles that showed in his eyes and Sunggyu felt very attacked.  “Y-Yah…” He pointed at Woohyun. “You can’t just do that, you’re not allowed!”

Woohyun’s smile faded to a look of innocent confusion. “Do what?”

“D-Don’t pretend like you don’t know!” Sunggyu stammered, his finger still pointed at Woohyun.

Woohyun didn’t seem to find it very much threatening at all, however, and chuckled as he wrapped his fingers around Sunggyu’s accusatory one. “Hyung,” He was smiling as he swung his and Sunggyu’s hand back and forth, gently. He looked like he wanted something or wanted to do something, but didn’t and simply stood there with a soft half smile.

“What?” Sunggyu couldn’t help but smile as well.

“…Nothing.” Woohyun looked down shyly. “Just…”

“Just what?” Sunggyu leaned forward in an attempt to inspect Woohyun’s face for some sort of answer. “...Do you want some ice cream after dinner—?”

Woohyun looked up with wide eyes. “Wait…can we?”

Sunggyu sighed and folded his arms as if he were thinking over a very important matter. “But wait…me or ice cream, choose one—.”

“Ice cream.” Woohyun answered much too quickly for Sunggyu’s liking.

“Yah.” Sunggyu took Woohyun’s hand in his. “At least think about it for a bit!”

“I did.” Woohyun grinned. “It’s already really hot these days so…” Woohyun suddenly looked down, shyly. “S-So why would I choose hyung…a-and ice cream is so cool and refreshing? Perfect for summer!”

“Ah…” Sunggyu nodded, looking into the distance. “So ice cream…so I’m less than ice cream…”

But Woohyun seems slightly sulky by Sunggyu’s reaction. “I-Its because…” He suddenly felt rather frustrated that Sunggyu couldn’t understand he was trying to compliment him by saying summer was already hot and he didn’t need Sunggyu to add to the hotness. But then he felt horribly embarrassed for thinking such a cheesy thing—though he also hated how he couldn’t disagree with himself. He wondered if he ever had this much of an internal dispute in his mind before when he used to be a penguin. He was pretty sure he never did. He arrived at the conclusion that it was Sunggyu’s fault, naturally.

-

After dinner, they got some ice cream from the nearby ice cream shop and ate it on the bench outside the store.

Well, Woohyun was eating, while Sunggyu was mostly just staring at Woohyun while the ice cream cone in his hand melted.

“Hyung,” Woohyun turned to Sunggyu with a somewhat flustered look. “Your ice cream is melting.”

“Huh?” Sunggyu blinked dumbly, after finally noticing the vanilla ice cream dripping down his hand onto the sidewalk. “Ah…right, I bet you hate your second choice letting your true love fall to the floor right?”

Woohyun ignored Sunggyu’s overdramatic whining because he really couldn’t stand to see some precious ice cream being wasted right in front of him.

“Hyung…”

Sunggyu turned to him with expectation all over his face. “Yeah?”

“Can I have your ice cream?” Woohyun asked with a concerned frown. “It doesn’t seem like you want it? And its melting…”

Sunggyu practically growled at him. “No! Leave me alone, its mine ok!”

Woohyun retreated like a puppy that had just been yelled at and nodded obediently, hands folded in his lap. He waited for a few moments, watching the ice cream drip down Sunggyu’s hand from the corner of his eye. After less than a minute, Sunggyu had enough and handed Woohyun his ice cream.

“Don’t get a tummy ache after this ok?” He sighed. Woohyun’s eyes lit up as he accepted the ice cream cone. But then he noticed Sunggyu still had ice cream on his hand.

“But…” He held onto Sunggyu’s wrist. “What about the ice cream here hyung?” Before Sunggyu could form an answer, Woohyun was licking the vanilla cream off his knuckle. Sunggyu probably would’ve pulled away as soon as possible, but the way Woohyun’s eyes looked so sparkly and content, and his warm pink tongue, and Woohyun’s lush lips sucking his fingers was a bit too much to bare.

Sunggyu abruptly stood up, the most stressed he’d ever been in his life, probably. Things were even worse because Woohyun looked ever so confused as if he had no idea what the hell he was just doing and how it was affecting Sunggyu.

“I…” Sunggyu suddenly announced, clearing his throat. “I-I need to go for a run.”

Woohyun blinked. “…What?”

“D-Don’t wait up for me.” Sunggyu instructed and awkwardly jogged away.

-

When Sunggyu got home later, he found Woohyun sitting on the sofa in the living room. The television was airing some comedic variety show but Woohyun didn’t seem to be in a joyous mood with his arms folded, looking rather sulky.

Sunggyu cleared his throat. “Hey…”

Woohyun didn’t say anything but made a grunting sound to acknowledge the other man’s existence.

Sunggyu sighed helplessly and sat down next to Woohyun. “Woohyun-ah, what’s wrong?”

“I’m going to bed.” Woohyun mumbled and got up to leave, but Sunggyu grabbed his hand, stopping him.

“Yah…” Sunggyu’s voice softened, as he sighed lightly. “Did I do something?”

Woohyun’s face reddened, suddenly. “I…” He pursed his lips, before facing Sunggyu. “I-I like hyung more than ice creams ok, so don’t leave me alone again!” He blurted out.

Sunggyu looked up at him, his fingers still clutching Woohyun’s wrist. Naturally he was confused, but when the pieces started coming together in his mind, he couldn’t help but smile. He gestured for Woohyun to sit down beside him, and when the former penguin did so, Sunggyu turned to him, and held Woohyun’s hand.

“I wasn’t angry with you, silly.”

“But…” Woohyun frowned. “Y-You just got up and left so I thought—.”

“It wasn’t because I was mad I-I just…” Sunggyu internally grumbled because there was no way in hell he was going to sit there and explain to Woohyun that he had basically gotten aroused because Woohyun licked ice cream off his hand. “Uh…I just thought I should start exercising, you know?” He stammered. “Like…we’re not getting any younger and we need to like…take care of our bodies and…stuff.”

Woohyun slowly nodded, as if attempting to understand. “I see…”

“S-So yeah I really wasn’t mad, ok?” Sunggyu wrapped his arms around Woohyun and squeezed him for a moment.

Woohyun finally smiled and even giggled a little. “But next time,” He leaned on Sunggyu’s shoulder. “Hyung, next time we should go together! I like exercising too.”

Sunggyu chuckled awkwardly. “Uh…yeah, sure.”

-

Unfortunately Woohyun seemed to take Sunggyu seriously on the exercise thing and woke Sunggyu up early the next morning by bouncing—yes _bouncing_ on top of him.

Sunggyu merely lay on his back, eyes closed, more stressed than he’d ever been before. Woohyun, who was sitting on Sunggyu’s thighs, watched him in anticipation, before scooting closer until he was lying on top of Sunggyu, their faces but a few inches apart.

“Hyung, wake up let’s go for a walk.” Woohyun’s voice was soft and soothing and it didn’t help that he looked so bright and fresh despite it being six in the morning.

Sunggyu draped his hand over his face and groaned loudly. But Woohyun didn’t budge an inch and patiently waited and watched.

“Can you maybe get off?” Sunggyu grumbled, as he attempted to scoot into a sitting position, despite Woohyun still sitting on top of him. Once he was partially awake and sitting upright he stared at Woohyun, who stared back at him with a soft smile.

“Can I atleast drink some coffee first…” Sunggyu sighed as he ran a hand through his hair and yawned.

“Sure.” Woohyun nodded, with the same patient smile, basically sitting on Sunggyu’s lap at that point..

Sunggyu looked at him expectantly, but Woohyun held his gaze, still smiling.

“You’re…not gonna get me any?”

Woohyun frowned. “Well…you have legs hyung.”

“But you’re sitting on them!”

-

The early morning air was cool and refreshing and Woohyun looked like he was practically skipping with his bouncy steps. It was different than the usual Woohyun, who was usually rather sleepy and occasionally sulky in the morning.

Meanwhile, Sunggyu didn’t know what he was more annoyed about—being forced to wake up early on a day he didn’t have work just to do exercise, Woohyun _actually_ taking the whole exercise thing seriously, or Woohyun not even attempting a good morning kiss, or even a hug.

 _“Does he even like kissing me…?”_ Sunggyu sighed, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants as he walked beside Woohyun. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was the one who initiated the few kisses they did have, and even hugs, for the most part. “ _What if he doesn’t like it…”_ He eyed Woohyun curiously from the corner of his eye. “ _I mean…he never said he didn’t like it and I usually ask before doing anything but…”_

He reached out to hold Woohyun’s hand and Woohyun easily let him, but didn’t say anything, only smiled softly. “Woohyun-ah,” Sunggyu cleared his throat.

“Hm?” Woohyun hummed, a serene smile on his face as the rising sun rays made his dark hair shine. Though when Sunggyu suddenly stopped, Woohyun’s smile faded to confusion as he turned to Sunggyu. “What’s wrong—?”

“C-Can I kiss you?” Sunggyu blurted out.

Woohyun let out a rather embarrassed chuckle. “What…what’re you saying hyung?” He found himself backing up when he noticed Sunggyu moving toward him with purpose. “W-Why’re you—?”

“I…can’t?” Sunggyu held Woohyun’s face in his hands, tilting his head to see Woohyun’s face better, with equal parts genuine concern and amusement. Woohyun didn’t know how to feel about the mysterious spark in Sunggyu’s eyes, and pursed his lips, averting his eyes.

“We...exercising,” Woohyun mumbled, as he felt Sunggyu’s lips grazing his own. “We’re supposed to…” Woohyun kind of gave up on what he was saying, with Sunggyu’s mouth melding against his parted lips. Woohyun dazedly, yet softly clutched to Sunggyu’s sweater sleeves, very much enjoying the fuzzy feelings in his tummy that Sunggyu’s kisses seemed to give him.

But then he felt Sunggyu’s arms wrap around him, one around his shoulders and the other around his waist—a gesture that made Woohyun gasp softly.

“What’re you doing?” Woohyun giggled, in an almost whispery tone like they were telling each other secrets.

“In case you get cold?” Sunggyu joked, in a similar tone.

“Its summer, hyung.” Woohyun rested his forehead on Sunggyu’s shoulder, so Sunggyu couldn’t see his shy smile.

“You…you don’t hate it right?” Woohyun felt Sunggyu’s breath on his ear.

Woohyun raised his head to look at Sunggyu. “Hate what?”

Sunggyu bit his lip, to stop an embarrassing chuckle from coming out, but it did anyways.

“Y-You know…hugs and…kisses and stuff?”

“Why would you think that?” Woohyun blinked.

Sunggyu breathed a sigh of relief. “So…you don’t right? You like them right? Like, I don’t know…I thought maybe I was doing too much and you were uncomfortable or—.”

“Hyung,” Woohyun held Sunggyu’s hand in his and rubbed it softly with an equally soft smile. “I like it—I like it all.” He ended it with an embarrassed giggle of sorts and Sunggyu didn’t know what he did to deserve the most adorable person in the world.

“Really?” Sunggyu leaned closer to study Woohyun’s face like it was the topic for a final exam. “So what if…like those times where you’re being way too cute and I just want to—.”

“Ah, hold that thought hyung.” Woohyun pulled his phone out of his pocket to answer a call. Sunggyu was left to stand there, feeling rather stupid and incredibly embarrassed, until Woohyun finished his phone call.

“So…” Sunggyu cleared his throat, attempting to regain a sense of coolness, that he never really had to begin with. “Who was that?”

“It was the swamp witch.” Woohyun explained. He was either unaware or chose to ignore Sunggyu’s obvious attempts to pretend like he wasn’t still embarrassed. “I’ve been texting with her and she called because she wanted to better explain about something we got when we received that manual a while ago.”

Sunggyu finally realized they weren’t going to re-visit his very important concerns about kisses and hugs, so he nodded thoughtfully instead. “And?”

“Well…” Woohyun rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Remember that glittery pink powder that I told you was a backup antidote in case I wanted to turn back into a penguin?”

Sunggyu folded his arms. “Yeah…?”

“Well…its actually to give to people who I think are in love with me to see if they’re the red hearts…”

“What.” Sunggyu frowned. “Why’d you lie?”

Woohyun pursed his lips, and glanced at the cement under his sneakers for a moment. “B-Because…I don’t know maybe I was kind of sort of…”

“Ah.” Sunggyu suddenly nodded in understanding. “You were expecting that more hearts would turn red right? That all of them would be red hearts? Wahhh look your ears are even turning red, I’m right aren’t I—?”

“No!” Woohyun groaned, though he was still smiling despite himself. “Its not like that…” He folded his hands, shyly. “I was…hoping one of the hearts would turn red…because of you.”

Sunggyu blinked stupidly. “Wait…you mean you…”

“I-I don’t know, anyways…” Woohyun cleared his throat, attempting to quickly change back to the main point of what he was saying. “So the swamp witch told me that the pink powder has another ability that she didn’t tell us about because she said it’s pretty useless? Its—.”

“Ok but before that,” Sunggyu stepped closer, cupped Woohyun’s cheeks and kissed him. Unfortunately a couple of people were out jogging and just happened to pass by, successfully embarrassing both Woohyun and Sunggyu.

“Hyung!” Woohyun quickly stepped away, turning towards a stone wall, so his face couldn’t be seen by anyone passing by. “W-What’re you doing?” He practically hissed, though he was basically sulking because he was embarrassed. “There’s people walking around and—.”

“I-It’s not my fault.” Sunggyu stammered, rather shamelessly. “You…you were like—I don’t know I just wanted to ok! Who cares if they saw, what’re they gonna do about it? Call the cops? Arrest us for kissing in the street at six in the morning?”

Woohyun stared at him in amazement. “You really,” He shook his head. “Where’s the protester from a few days ago who insisted so much that he didn’t like men—.”

“Yah.” Sunggyu snapped. “I just like you ok?”

Woohyun couldn’t help but giggle at that. “Ok, ok. Anyways, like I was saying the pink powder has another use, though the swamp witch said it was pretty useless. If I put it in water and drink it, everyone around me will fall in love with me, but only for half an hour.”

“What, really?” Sunggyu gasped. “Hey, that could be so useful?”

“Right?” Woohyun nodded in agreement. “I thought so too.”

“So, should we try it today?” Sunggyu suggested. “Lets go home, eat something, wait for people to actually wake up, and then we’ll try it. How does that sound?”

“Sounds like a plan!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was like 90% pointless but I feel like theyre both far too awkward and dumb for their relationship to just go smoothly from here on out lmao. And yeah it was kind of just a way to prepare for actual plot and stuff happening in the next chapters? Maybe? Who knows there might just be 30 more chapters of pointless cuddling and snuggle scenes (just kidding)  
> (but then again cuddles and snuggling are never pointless as far as I'm concerned)  
> (but lmao I won't make u all sit through that many chapters jesus christ)  
> (maybe)  
> (hopefully)  
> (also do you guys like when i reply to comments or do you just not care either way I'm curious because I'm generally too awkward to generate decent not lame responses to your lovely comments lmao)


	19. Like, Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys long time no see sorry about that ;u;

After they returned to Sunggyu’s apartment and had their breakfast, Sunggyu sat down for a bit to watch some television.

He called out for Woohyun. “You know, we should go soon? If we want to get to the pier when there’s the most people there to test out the love potion thing?”

Woohyun padded in from the kitchen and flopped down on the sofa beside Sunggyu, immediately laying down and resting his head on Sunggyu’s lap.

“I wanna take a nap first.” Woohyun smiled contently, as he adjusted himself to get more comfy.

Sunggyu’s hand instantly went to Woohyun’s head to ruffle his hair softly.

“Yah…this isn’t the time for naps.” Sunggyu told him in a rather gentle tone, as he poked his cheek affectionately.

Woohyun reluctantly sat up and scooted towards Sunggyu, resting his palms on Sunggyu’s knee like he was anticipating a treat or something.

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow, noticing the somewhat eager look Woohyun was giving him. “What? You’re ready to go?”

“Not yet…” Woohyun murmured as he leaned forward, pursing his lips for a moment in concentration.

Sunggyu realized Woohyun was rather obviously staring at his mouth and was attempting a kiss—or atleast Sunggyu hoped he was.

But alas, Sunggyu’s life never worked out that miraculously because Woohyun’s phone ringing interrupted them.

Sunggyu watched in hopeless disdain (for Woohyun’s phone) as Woohyun hopped off the couch and scooted towards the kitchen table to answer it. He was in the midst of wondering if he should run all the way to the beach and jump into the ocean or just dig a big enough hole in the sand and jump in when he heard Woohyun say Sungjong’s name.

Sunggyu couldn’t believe that Woohyun was initiating a kiss— _a kiss_ , and all of things Lee Sungjong was the one to interrupt them. But alas, Sunggyu couldn’t hate or beat up Sungjong so he was left to mope about it and would most likely excessively tease Sungjong out of pure pettiness, even though the entire thing was in no way Sungjong’s fault.

Woohyun finally hung up and turned to Sunggyu with a small smile. “So, should we go?”

“But…” Sunggyu frowned. “What about what…you know what you were doing before—?”

“Ahhh its really getting late hyung, we should go right now.” Woohyun’s words came tumbling out a bit too fast as he scurried off to the door, leaving Sunggyu to sit there and wonder why this was his life

-

Unfortunately, Woohyun’s idea to use the pink powder from the swamp witch to get people to fall in love with him failed miserably.

There was a movie theater on the way to the boardwalk, and a popcorn bucket someone threw was on the sidewalk in Woohyun’s pathway. Sunggyu just walked past it, but Woohyun stopped in an instant when he spotted seagulls pecking at it and eating the dropped kernels surrounding the fallen red popcorn bucket. Naturally he thought, it’d be nice if the birds could eat the popcorn that was in the bucket so he proceeded to bend over and adjust the bucket, but as soon as he did so, the birds swarmed him. He proceeded to fall onto his knees, covering his face and whimpering in distress. By the time Sunggyu noticed, the birds had flown away and somehow snatched the pink powder in Woohyun’s pocket while they were at it.

“Yah,” Sunggyu chuckled softly as he held out his hand to help Woohyun up. “Weren’t you also a bird? Why’re you getting scared of your own kind?”

Woohyun frowned. “I’m a human hyung, and they…they were scared and panicked, and I was just—y-you know, showing them I’m not scary.”

Sunggyu nodded, the same way an adult would to a child who was clearly making up a false story. “Ok, ok.”

Only when they got to the pier did they realize the seagulls has swiped Woohyun’s magical pink powder. They even searched all over the boardwalk and returned to where the birds had swarmed Woohyun, but they didn’t find the witch’s pink dust anywhere.

Woohyun sighed softly and slumped onto a nearby bench. It was noon, and they’d been searching nonstop for hours.

Sunggyu sat down next to Woohyun and gently rubbed his back. “I’m sorry we couldn’t find it.”

Woohyun gave him a small smile. “Its ok…we can…there might be other things we can do, right?”

-

Woohyun seemed pretty down on the way back home, and Sunggyu wasn’t exactly sure how to make it better.

“Hey uh,” He began, earning Woohyun’s attention. “How about some ice cream?”

Woohyun smiled sadly at him. “No thanks.”

This was bad, Sunggyu realized. Woohyun never ever said no to ice cream.

Sunggyu didn’t know what else to do, so he just did the first thing he could think of.

He suddenly grabbed hold of Woohyun’s hand and held it closely with both hands.

“I…” He bit his lip. “I like you ok!”

Woohyun blinked. “…Ok—?”

“I-I just mean…” Sunggyu awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Just remember that when like…you know you have to win over other people to get the other heart markings.”

“Ah…” Woohyun was suddenly reminded again of the daunting future of disappearing soon if he didn’t win enough hearts. “If…if I even manage to do that.” He mumbled, rubbing his forearm in a somber state.

“ _Crap I made him even more sad.”_ Sunggyu mentally panicked. “W-What’re you talking about of course you will, you’re the most lovable person I know!”

Woohyun looked up at him with wide eyes. Though Sunggyu’s rather stubborn stare and words made him too embarrassed that he started laughing out of bashfulness.

“Its not good to lie hyung.” Woohyun waved him off, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“Yah,” Woohyun felt Sunggyu’s warm hands on his reddened cheeks and reluctantly met Sunggyu’s gaze. “I’m not lying, it’s the truth, ok?”

Woohyun, on instinct, squeezed his eyes shut, when he realized Sunggyu’s face was moving closer to his own. Sunggyu really didn’t want to find it cute, but of course he did, and opted for planting a kiss on Woohyun’s forehead after parting the shorter man’s bangs.

-

Later that afternoon at home, Sunggyu just finished explaining what happened to Dongwoo on the phone. After he hung up, he wandered into the kitchen, expecting to find Woohyun there, but he wasn’t. He called for him, and looked in the bedroom as well, but he was nowhere to be found. He realized Woohyun’s sneakers were gone from the entrance way and quickly slid into his shoes and rushed outside to see Woohyun going down the stairs at the end of the hallway of the apartment building.

“Woohyun-ah!” He called out, causing the other man to stop and turn around.

“Where’re you going so suddenly?” Sunggyu sighed, after catching up with him.

“Huh? Oh I was gonna go to the grocery store because there’s nothing to make for dinner.” Woohyun explained matter-of-factly.

Sunggyu suddenly felt rather stupid for panicking, seeing to how Woohyun seemed to have completely recovered from that morning’s mishap.

“Oh…”

“Ah, and plus I read this thing about finding love and that people are more likely to find their mate in places like a store, rather than places people usually meet up to mate? So it can’t hurt to see if I have any luck that way.” He said, with some amusement in his voice. “What do you think hyung?” He kind of expected Sunggyu to get playfully annoyed about Woohyun trying to find someone else to like him when he already had Sunggyu. But instead, Sunggyu just nodded with an encouraging smile.

“That’s a good idea.” He reached out and patted Woohyun’s shoulder awkwardly. “Uh…do you want me to come too? I can be like your wingman.” He joked, but Woohyun’s expression turned dismal.

“Humans don’t have wings…” He mumbled and began to walk away in a rather sulky manner.

Sunggyu, however simply found Woohyun’s sulkiness amusing and followed after him.

-

What Sunggyu did not find amusing, however, was coincidentally meeting up with Myungsoo at the grocery store. Sunggyu was pretty sure that it wasn’t even the closest grocery store to Myungsoo’s house, but yet, there he was—clad in black shorts and a t-shirt, still managing to look like Korea’s top visual idol or something.

Sure Sunggyu didn’t mind Woohyun’s friends at all—but Myungsoo clearly thought of Woohyun as more than a friend and he really didn’t need to stand so close to Woohyun or sniff him.

Sunggyu was kind of pissed. Sure Woohyun smelled really nice for some reason, but that didn’t give Myungsoo the right to—.

“Ah, what do you think, hyung?”

Sunggyu blinked stupidly. Woohyun was looking at him expectantly, while Myungsoo had more of a blank look aimed in his general direction.

“About…what?”

“About the three of us going for dinner after buying groceries—.”

“Uh actually,” Myungsoo tugged lightly on Woohyun’s shirt to whisper to him. “I kind of meant just you and me…”

Well so much for whispering because Sunggyu heard every single word.

He wanted to say something, like that Myungsoo should piss off, but then he remembered the red heart marking was probably Myungsoo’s. And the only way to get rid of it was for that person to confess, and there was a good chance Myungsoo would do that if he and Woohyun were alone together.

So Sunggyu withheld a string of swear words threatening to come out and instead put on a thin smile, that didn’t reach the rather pissed off look his eyes still held.

“Y-Yeah, you guys go, I’ll just uh…” He reached out and grabbed the grocery bag from Woohyun. “I’ll take these home.”

Woohyun was giving him a rather lost look though, like a pet dog that was being abandoned on the side of the road by its owner. “R-Really?”

“I, uh I got stuff to do at home anyways, so…” Sunggyu trailed off, as he backed up and attempted to make his way to the exit while avoiding Woohyun’s heart wrenching stare. He made it out of the store and walked a few steps, before giving in to his frustration and kicking a small discarded pile of rocks on the side of the walkway.

“ _Why the hell did he give me that look…”_ Sunggyu sighed helplessly. He was pretty sure Woohyun liked hanging out with Myungsoo, so he really didn’t get it at all. “ _Plus he can see me at home and it’d just be awkward with all three of us…”_  He still couldn’t help but feel his chest aching as he struggled to get Woohyun’s sad puppy dog face out of his mind.

-

“So, where do you want to go to eat?” Myungsoo asked, grabbing onto Woohyun’s hand. They had left the grocery store, after Myungsoo paid for his items and put them away in a tote bag he slung over his shoulder.

“Um…” Woohyun’s gaze moved across the street absently. “You know, maybe I’ll just head home, I mean maybe Sunggyu hyung needs help making dinner—.”

Myungsoo’s grip on his hand suddenly tightened. “He’ll be fine won’t he?” He was frowning, and visibly upset. “He can make his own dinner, can’t he?”

Woohyun smiled awkwardly. “W-Well yeah, but—.”

“You don’t have to feel obligated to take care of him like that.” Myungsoo told him, with an almost concerned expression. “You...you’re allowed to just relax and take care of yourself too you know?”

Woohyun didn’t say anything but did give him a polite smile and nodded.

But he was wrong. Woohyun didn’t feel like he was taking care of Sunggyu by cooking for him. He liked cooking—he liked cooking for Sunggyu and watching Sunggyu enjoy his food. Sure Sunggyu could be annoying and lazy and messy and sometimes needed to be nagged to do things, but Woohyun didn’t feel like he was one-sidedly taking care of Sunggyu. He didn’t feel like he couldn’t relax with Sunggyu—in fact, sleeping in Sunggyu’s arms at night was one of the most comforting feelings he’d ever felt.

He felt a burning in his chest that wouldn’t go away after hearing Myungsoo’s words.

He stopped in his tracks, pulling his hand away from Myungsoo’s.

“I…its not like that.” He swallowed, biting his lip, as Myungsoo turned to face him. “With Sunggyu hyung…its not like that. You…you don’t even know anything about him.”

Myungsoo blinked, clearly taken off guard by Woohyun’s rather stern words.

“I’m sorry, I think I’ll just go.” Woohyun finished, and turned to leave.

Myungsoo wordlessly watched him walk away, his fist that was gripping his grocery bag was trembling. “ _Its always him…why is it always him…”_

-

Sunggyu was in the middle of searching for some left overs in the fridge to eat for dinner when he heard the front door unlock. And soon enough Woohyun appeared, as Sunggyu was taking out some glass containers filled with various side dishes.

“Ah, you’re home early. Where’d you guys end up going—?”

“We didn’t.” Woohyun said, with a rather sulky expression.

Sunggyu’s mouth flipped into an amused grin. “What? Did you have a fight with Myungsoo—?”

“I don’t think he likes you very much.” Woohyun sighed and helped Sunggyu open the containers.

“Huh?” Sunggyu raised an eyebrow. “What, did you guys fight about me?”

“Whatever it doesn’t matter anyways.” Woohyun muttered, still in his sulky manner. “You don’t care what I do or who I do it with anyways right?”

Sunggyu was officially confused. “Ok, what the hell happened? What did _I_ do? You know I left so you could—.”

“I know, I know, so I can get someone to actually like me, but god forbid that happens, because no one ever will!” Woohyun blurted out, immediately regretting it after he did. He bit his trembling lip and stared down at the chopped carrots. “I thought…I thought that at least hyung…maybe liked me…but—.”

“Yah, what’re you even saying?” Sunggyu snorted. “Didn’t I say I did—?”

“Th-Then how come you didn’t even care about the soul mate in the grocery store thing and you just left me alone with Myungsoo when I wanted you to come too!” The words came tumbling out of Woohyun’s mouth before he could stop himself and his heart was racing and his eyes felt wetness forming.

It was silent for a moment, until Woohyun heard Sunggyu sigh in a relieved way. He looked up nervously, and he was pretty sure the rain was going to come out of his eyes at any moment.

“Why are you like this?” Sunggyu ran a hand through his hair and sighed again. “Why do you think I don’t care? Of course I care! I don’t want to see you trying to get other people to fall in love with you because you already have me, you idiot. But like,” He bit his lip as his gaze fell to a groove in the kitchen table. “I’d rather put up with jealous feelings for now and then…a-and then have you all to myself for the rest of our lives?” He was clearly embarrassed as heck by his own words, but Woohyun felt like they were a romantic arrow of everything fluffy and flowery and lovely and sweet, straight to his chest. “I mean if I’m looming over you all day and night no one else will ever approach you or want to confess to you, would they—?”

“I love you.” Woohyun didn't even register that the words had spilled out of his mouth, until he locked eyes with Sunggyu’s widened, surprised ones.

Sunggyu opened his mouth to say something, but Woohyun quickly held his hands up in a flustered manner.

“Y-Your house! I-I love…your house! S-So like…I’m gonna live here forever and you can’t kick me out a-and…”

Sunggyu was smiling at him like he was an innocent and confused child and it flustered Woohyun further. Why the hell was he _smiling_? This was in no way a smiling matter to Woohyun.

“Woohyun-ah…”

And of course his voice had to be softer and more gentle than usual and Woohyun felt like burying his face in a bucket of frosty and cold ice cream.

“I-I’m gonna go for a walk!” Woohyun stammered, proceeding to almost trip over his own feet as he scurried towards the door.

He made a mindless mad dash once he was outside, feeling the slightly cool air ease the heat coloring his cheeks. He stopped after a few moments, crouching down and burying his face in his hands. “ _Why…why did I do that—Why did I say that—ah…what’s wrong with me?”_

It wasn’t as if it were untrue, in fact it was probably true since the first day Woohyun had seen Sunggyu in the aquarium—the first time he laid eyes on him from inside the penguin enclosure.

He was probably in love with Sunggyu since day one.

(It didn’t make the whole thing any less embarrassing for Woohyun though.)


	20. Hurt & Need

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone its been exactly 2 months wow I suck lol. Anyways if you're still here reading this i love you <3

Sunggyu woke up the next morning to find the bed empty beside him. He sat up and looked around sleepily whilst rubbing the back of his head.

He found Woohyun dressed and awake, putting his shoes on at the entrance way.

“Woohyun-ah?” Woohyun immediately froze, like he wasn’t expecting Sunggyu to be up for hours. “When’d you get home last night? After you…went for a run, you didn’t come back.”

“I…” Woohyun kept his back to Sunggyu, holding his shoe absently for a moment. “I came back and…a-and saw you sleeping so I just, I slept on the couch.”

Sunggyu could see Woohyun’s ears were reddened at the tips and he realized Woohyun was still embarrassed and flustered from last night. He found himself smiling because of how endearing it was.

“So, where’re you going now?”

Woohyun hesitated for a moment. “On…on a journey.”

Sunggyu couldn’t help a snort that escaped his throat. “A journey, huh?”

“Y-Yeah,” Woohyun finished tying his shoelaces and stood up, reaching for the door handle. “See you later—.”

Sunggyu grabbed Woohyun’s arm to stop him from leaving and made Woohyun turn around to finally face him. Just as Sunggyu suspected, Woohyun’s face was flushed and he refused to meet Sunggyu’s eyes as he bit his lip. Woohyun covered his mouth with his hand and made a whimpery sigh sound like he just really wanted Sunggyu to stop staring at him.

“Woohyun-ah,” Sunggyu’s voice was somewhat tender, as were his fingers on Woohyun’s warm cheek.

Woohyun inwardly groaned, too flustered to look Sunggyu in the eyes.

“Can…c-can we just forget everything I said yesterday—?”

But Sunggyu wasn’t listening, or perhaps he was listening way too closely, because his hands were on Woohyun’s cheeks and his breath was on Woohyun’s lips, and Woohyun had no words.

He had literally just confessed that he _loved_ Sunggyu the night before and here Sunggyu was _kissing_ him. Woohyun was completely confused because as far as he knew, humans saying those three words to each other kind of seemed to mean a lot. And to Woohyun they felt like they meant a lot. He _loved_ Sunggyu and he was pretty sure Sunggyu didn’t love him but Sunggyu was kissing him and holding his cheeks and he felt himself getting completely swept away.

He gasped softly, hot against Sunggyu’s mouth, as he felt his back pressing to the door and Sunggyu’s tongue slipping past his lips.

Woohyun clung eagerly to Sunggyu’s shirt the moment he felt Sunggyu pulling away for air, because he didn’t want air, he just wanted Sunggyu and he didn’t want Sunggyu to stop.

Sunggyu pressed his hand to the door behind Woohyun, just beside the shorter man’s head. With his other hand, he held Woohyun’s cheek, as he leaned closer, his lips touching Woohyun’s reddened ear.

“Yah,” Sunggyu’s voice was deeper, more hoarse, as it usually was after he’d just woken up. “If you want more, don’t sleep on the couch tonight.”

-

Woohyun was in a complete daze as he walked along the boardwalk, Sunggyu’s words replaying over and over in his head—the way Sunggyu kissed him. It was like his head and chest and whole body in fact were permanently warm and almost trembling since that morning. He recalled how some lady customers at the cafe had called Sunggyu “sexy” and at the moment, Woohyun could find no better words to describe him.

He flopped down on a bench, the warm sun shining on him, making him feel even more hot.

He didn’t understand at all—he had said he loved Sunggyu, but then Sunggyu kissed him in response. He buried his face in his hands in a flustered manner. Did it mean Sunggyu loved him back, he wondered. He hesitantly looked around for a moment, before pulling up the fabric of his shorts slightly to check his thigh—there were 2 hollow hearts, and this time not one, but two red hearts. Woohyun’s eyes widened. He was pretty sure that second red heart wasn’t there when he had last checked.

He pressed his finger to the second red heart, in an attempt to make sure it was real somehow.

_“He…its hyung right? It has to be him…”_

-

Woohyun met up with Sungjong for lunch. Sungjong told him all about how his week had been and work, and the usual. Woohyun listened warmly. He liked hearing Sungjong talk about things, there was an almost purity in the way the younger man spoke that was unlike any other human Woohyun had met.

But then it was Woohyun’s turn to talk and he didn’t even know where to start. He didn’t even know if they were things he could really tell Sungjong.

“What do you think about love?” He suddenly asked.

Sungjong blinked, seemingly taken off guard. “That’s…random?”

“I just…” Woohyun chuckled softly, his gaze falling to his plate. “I’ve been thinking a lot about it and…I don’t know. There’s so many different ways to love someone, isn’t there?”

“Mm…” Sungjong nodded in thought. “That’s true…its not really a black and white thing like…there’s the way you love your friends, or your family…and then there’s…you know—romantic love, uh…physical attraction too?”

Woohyun pursed his lips. “I think…” His heart was throbbing wildly. He hadn’t told anyone about his feelings for Sunggyu, except well, Sunggyu himself, and even that went horribly wrong in his opinion. “I think I love someone…”

Sungjong nodded calmly, like Woohyun was telling him about something mundane like the weather. “That’s nice, did you tell that person?”

Woohyun’s cheeks flushed. “Well…kind of?”

“And?” Sungjong plopped a cherry tomato in his mouth. “What’d he say?”

“Well, I—.” Woohyun halted in his words. “I didn’t say it was…” He sighed, instantly giving in. “How did you know?”

Sungjong just smiled and Woohyun felt some relief wash over him. It really made him think not only about obtaining love from others, but about the love he gave away—the love others made him feel. About not just others feelings towards him and whether anyone else liked him, but about who _he_ liked, people who made him feel things, and how he felt about himself.

He thought about how there were many layers to being a human being, both physical and mental. He also wondered if everyone walked around with such weighty matters on their minds like invisible backpacks that others couldn’t see and only they could feel the heaviness of.

-

Sunggyu decided to pick up Woohyun from work that evening, and made his way over to the café. However, as soon as he walked in, a waiter who was stacking chairs told him they were in the process of closing.

“Ah…no, I’m just here to pick up Woohyun.” Sunggyu explained.

The waiter suddenly grinned excitably. “Oh? Well, about that…”

He led Sunggyu towards the back of the store to a closed door, where a few of the other waiters were standing around, whispering and chuckling.

The chair stacking waiter proceeded to explain that Woohyun was in the employee break room with Myungsoo. That still didn’t explain why all the other waiters were standing around, however.

“Our Myungsoo has been crushing on Woohyun since he started working here.” One of the other waiters, a short fellow explained, even though no one asked. “This is his chance to finally confess.” The others all giggled excitably like preteens at a slumber party and Sunggyu was already annoyed.

“We’ve all totally been rooting for them since the beginning.” The chair stacking waiter added. “Don’t you think they’d make a cute couple?”

Sunggyu was both surprised at how openly supportive they were about a same-sex couple and disgusted because Woohyun was his and definitely would not look cute with Myungsoo. He begrudgingly thought right after that yes ok, they might be a bit cute, but that was beside the point. He really wanted to barge in and see what was happening, but he stopped himself after realizing something. Myungsoo might be in there confessing to Woohyun, and in turn that would make one of Woohyun’s hearts disappear. He couldn’t possibly interrupt and screw that up, so he stood there, gritting his teeth, watching the waiters gush about how Myungsoo just _adored_ Woohyun.

-

Meanwhile inside, there was an entirely different more awkward vibe, as Woohyun changed out of his butler uniform and into his regular clothes—a t-shirt and black jeans. He didn’t really know how to approach Myungsoo after their last encounter involving Woohyun getting upset at him and leaving. He glanced at Myungsoo, who was unbuttoning his white button up shirt, his back turned to Woohyun.

Woohyun knew Myungsoo wasn’t going to say anything, so _he_ would have to.

“So,” He cleared his throat, successfully earning Myungsoo’s attention. “About the other day…”

“Why does it have to be him…?” Myungsoo muttered, suddenly. Woohyun paused, not knowing what to say. Myungsoo really did like him, and he just couldn’t return his feelings. “Aren’t I…aren’t I nicer to you?”

Woohyun stared at his shoes, before reluctantly meeting Myungsoo’s eyes with a worried gaze.

“Myungsoo…I’m sorry.”

-

Sunggyu didn’t know what to say or do as he and Woohyun walked home in silence.

“So…I’m guessing it didn’t go well?” He nudged Woohyun.

Woohyun simply sighed, like he held all the worries of the world in his petite body. “I…I hurt him, hyung.” He looked up at Sunggyu with watery eyes. “Why didn’t I realize that agreeing to this would hurt people?”

“This? You mean…becoming human? Yah, you can’t—.”

“Maybe I’m better off just being a penguin in that tank again…”

-

Woohyun spent the rest of the evening in his and Sunggyu’s shared bedroom, sitting on the floor, making collages. Sunggyu had no idea where Woohyun learned to make collages, but there he was, cutting scraps from magazines and gluing them together.

Sunggyu peered into the bedroom to see how Woohyun was doing.

“Hey, there…you doing ok Woohyun-ah?”

Woohyun looked up with a dismal expression, before lifting up his latest work of art, a black piece of paper with a picture of a trash can glued to the center of the paper.

“I call this…” He choked up a bit. “Self portrait.”

“Uh…” Sunggyu cleared his throat and hesitantly approached the other man. “It’s very nice…but how about you come into the kitchen and we can eat some dinner, ok?”

Woohyun looked up at him hopelessly. “What did I do to deserve dinner? I’m fine here…”

“You know those were my favorite magazines, right?” Sunggyu gestured to the cut-up scraps of paper—the remains of the magazines on the floor. Of course he was joking, but Woohyun looked up at him with a horrified stare.

“These…” Woohyun frantically began gathering the torn up magazines, in some attempt to magically put them back together. “I-I…I ruined your favorite…I ruined hyung’s favorite magazines…” Woohyun flopped down on the floor in despair. “I really do ruin everything don’t I—.”

Sunggyu’s amused smile faded, upon seeing that Woohyun took his joke seriously. “Yah, yah…” He knelt down and patted Woohyun’s head. “I was joking! I don’t care about those magazines, silly.” He sighed and stroked the other man’s back gently. “Don’t blame yourself, ok? It’s a part of being human, you know? Hurting other people…”

Woohyun rolled onto his back, his hands folded over his stomach as he looked up at Sunggyu with glassy eyes. “It still doesn’t feel right…”

Sunggyu smiled softly. “I don’t think its supposed to.”

Woohyun slowly sat up, seemingly still in thought. “Hyung…do you think he’ll be ok? Do you think Myungsoo will be ok?”

“Of course.” Sunggyu leaned forward for a hug, that Woohyun promptly rejected.

“What’re you doing?” Woohyun gasped. “We can’t just…it’ll hurt Myungsoo.”

Sunggyu stared at Woohyun with a stupefied expression. Woohyun really just told him, they weren’t allowed to hug in the privacy of Sunggyu’s apartment, because it would “hurt Myungsoo.”

Sunggyu figured it was a one time thing, since Woohyun was particularly sensitive at the time. But just like that, a week passed, with no kisses, no hugs, no cuddles, _nothing._

Sunggyu was about to lose it. Everyday seemed like a struggle not to bite Dongwoo’s head off in his frustration.

He woke up one chilly morning, sadly, and as expected, _alone_.

Sunggyu was pretty sure he was going crazy or that Woohyun put some strange magical spell on him. He’d never felt…well quite this needy for someone, especially someone he hadn’t even slept with. He sat up, drowsily and glanced around the empty bedroom. It was eerily quiet and even Sunggyu’s oversized hoodie didn’t feel warm enough.

But then the door suddenly burst open, and Woohyun practically bounced inside.

“Hyung, guess what, guess what?” He leapt onto the bed, excitably.

Sunggyu was so completely thrown for a loop that Woohyun was actually legitimately on his bed and actively moving towards him with a _smile._

Sunggyu swore it’d been way too long since he’d seen Woohyun actually smiling so brightly.

Woohyun practically bounced onto Sunggyu’s lap, holding up a red card.

“I won this at the grocery store. Its for an…amusement park? That’s what the ahjussi said—.”

Sunggyu stopped listening, because he was still trying to process why Woohyun was suddenly sitting on him and looking happy after his week of guilt filled moping.

“ _Could it be….he’s finally stopped beating himself up about rejecting Myungsoo’s feelings and now he’s back to his old self?”_ Sunggyu decided not to think too deeply about it because Woohyun was happy and seemed to be back to his old self again. He figured it was another one of those things about Woohyun he’d just never understand—Woohyun was too complicated for him sometimes.

“So I decided to do the grocery shopping early before it got too crowded.” Woohyun was still in the midst of explaining. “And this ahjussi was doing this thing he called a ‘raffle’ and—.”

He paused when he noticed Sunggyu wasn’t saying anything and was rather stupidly smiling at him. “Uh…hyung are you ok?”

“Hm?” Sunggyu tilted his head, still practically beaming like he was looking at the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. “You’re just really cute.”

Woohyun blinked for a moment before bursting into embarrassed laughter. “What’re you saying hyung? Are you still asleep—.”

Sunggyu rolled over on top of Woohyun, earning a small whimper from the former penguin.

“What’re you doing?” Woohyun’s voice sounded slightly muffled due to his nose and mouth being somewhat covered by Sunggyu’s black sweater.

“Celebrating your free spa weekend thing.” Sunggyu slipped his arms around Woohyun’s waist snuggly.

“But…” Woohyun frowned, more from confusion than being upset. “Its for an amusement park…”

“Same thing.” Sunggyu insisted. It wasn’t like he cared either way—all he cared about was that Woohyun was finally letting him touch him again. And Sunggyu had a lot of hugs and cuddles and kisses to make up for.

Woohyun felt Sunggyu’s nose burrow into the crook of his neck, and while Sunggyu was wondering if Woohyun always smelled as good as he did right then, Woohyun was completely flustered.

He didn’t really understand what Sunggyu was trying to do, and Sunggyu was pressed so closely on top of him it made him feel strangely hot. And the way Sunggyu peppered kisses along his neck and jawline, gave Woohyun an unnerving, tingly feeling in his tummy.

“Hyung…” He grasped onto the folds of Sunggyu’s sweater to properly get his attention, but when he did, all Sunggyu could see was Woohyun’s glassy eyes looking up at him, complete with a shy lip bite and that was all Sunggyu needed. Woohyun hesitantly parted his lips to say more, but Sunggyu instead took it as a chance for a kiss—one hand holding the side of Woohyun’s face. Woohyun whimpered into Sunggyu’s mouth, clinging to Sunggyu’s sweater, like he wanted even more—like he needed more. But then he felt Sunggyu’s hand slip under his tshirt and he let out a slight gasp, breaking away from Sunggyu’s lips.

“Wh…why’re you doing that?” He murmured, slightly breathless, his gaze off to the side in a shy manner.

“…Because,” Sunggyu breathed, tenderly touching Woohyun’s cheek, looking from his eyes to his lips like he’d been hypnotized. He leaned into Woohyun’s ear, kissing the sensitive spot below Woohyun’s ear. “I want to touch you.”

Woohyun suddenly pushed at Sunggyu’s chest, enough to get out from under him and quickly climbed off the bed in a flustered manner.

“S-So…I…the spa thing…I need to…” Woohyun stammered, his back to Sunggyu. “I-I need to…”

“Isn’t it for an amusement park?” Sunggyu noticed Woohyun’s ears get red and smiled to himself. He got up as well and slipped his arm around Woohyun’s waist from behind, leaning his chin on Woohyun’s shoulder. “Its ok if you’re shy, you know?” He murmured in a somewhat affectionate, yet teasing tone. “Hyung will take things slow for Woohyunie, ok?”

Woohyun could do nothing to hide his complete embarrassment and buried his face into his hands with a defeated whimper.

But if he was trying to get Sunggyu to stop, it didn’t work, but Sunggyu just ended up wanting to tackle Woohyun onto the floor and perhaps bite him for being way too adorable.

He somewhat controlled himself, however, and instead kissed Woohyun’s cheek affectionately.

Woohyun hesitantly lowered his hands, and reluctantly spun around to face Sunggyu again despite his embarrassment.

“Uh…slow.” He murmured, clearing his throat. “I think…I think slow is good.”

He wasn’t quite sure if Sunggyu fully understood him with how Sunggyu was moving closer to him with a blatant disregard for personal space.

“So,” Sunggyu took both of Woohyun’s hands. “Kissing is ok?”

Woohyun coughed lightly. “I…I guess, yeah—.”

In a swift motion, Woohyun found himself lying down on the mattress again, with Sunggyu on top of him, lips melded together. Woohyun was once again sent into a dizzy, dreamy like state, the moment they parted lips. He didn’t really know why Sunggyu’s kisses made him feel that way, he supposed it was because he loved him or maybe that Sunggyu was just a really good kisser.

(It was probably love.)

“Kisses are good right?” Sunggyu breathed, and Woohyun nodded hazily, somewhat unaware that Sunggyu was once again pulling up his shirt, exposing his abdomen.

“Hyung..” Woohyun almost whined. “I-I just said not to—.”

“Not to what?” Sunggyu purred, his lips on Woohyun’s ear. “I just wanna see it.”

“S-See what?”

“You…your uh…” Sunggyu officially had no more excuses left in the bank. “I-Its because you’ve been sleeping on the sofa so I can’t…”

Woohyun raised an eyebrow, but Sunggyu swore there was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “So you can’t what…?”

Sunggyu sat up, folding his arms. “Never mind…”

Woohyun leaned on his elbows, with this almost alluring gaze, like he was practically asking Sunggyu to come get him with his eyes.

“No,” He bit his lip. “What’d you mean hyung?”

“Sh-shut up, it doesn’t matter.” Sunggyu coughed, and decided to focus on a single lonely black sock on the floor next to the nightstand. Sunggyu made a mental note, that in certain situations, Woohyun was definitely more dangerous than he seemed.


End file.
